Portland's Heroes
by Santiago Trujillo Tobon
Summary: The American task assigned to cooperate whit the Japanese has it tough, their comander sucks, they had suffered all the way across the pacific and to top it all off they resive the news that just as the agains the Abyssal is closing to an end they are going to be replaced by more modern ships while they go to a less glamorous front, the only hope? A ton of money behind enemy lines.
1. Crucial Intelligence

**PORTLAND'S HEROES.**

 **AN:** So here I am seating thinking, what story can I do in the Kancolle universe? After a while I decided that the way to go was to base my work on a war movie, but what movie? Most of them are greedy and I don't like going super dark in my fan fictions, especially if it makes the fanfic have a different tone from that of the original work (Granted my Strike Witches story has a severe lack of cuteness in it-and witches for the matter- but it isn't more dark than the anime or most mangas on the series) So I had to chose the correct one, and the correct one turned up to be the 1970 classic Kelly's Heroes, starring Clint Eastwood and other good actors my dad would have better chances of recognizing. The reason why I based my fanfic around this movie is simple, more than a war film telling the tragedy that was the war it is a bank robbery/comedy set in WW2, so replacing WW2 with Kancolle and going with the rest had a better chance of fitting than Black Hawk Down or something similar.

And to be crystal clear this story has a crap ton of OC's. Why? Because as far as I know no one in the official cannon is greedy enough to risk their lives by going behind enemy lines for money and the ones that are crazy enough to go behind enemy lines would not do it for money (Or if you have evidence of Ise having such bravery or Tenryuu wanting to buy something so desperately please show it to me because I haven't seen it) So in conclusion, I had to come up with the crazy people required for the job.

In any case I have bored you for to long so let's begging…

 **Chapter one**

 **Crucial Intelligence**

It was the middle of the night in the pacific; there was heavy raining and the Gods of thunder were competing to see who could illuminated the black canvass that was the sky, not many seconds passing between the lightning strikes, as a consequence of this constant attempt of making the night day a massive Abyssal formation that was gathering on a small lagoon had its cover blown, even without radar everyone who cared to could clearly see the lines endless lines of battleships, cruisers and destroyers sailing around as if they had nothing to fear in the seven seas, they were just there, silently going at their business with their glowing eyes and grey skin giving them the appearance of a ghost army getting ready to take the souls of the living.

One of the countless formations that was at that moment making their way around the place passed a channel, it was a little one created by two rocks that were separated by more or less by 70 feet of whish haft were blocked by semi sunken boats, everything from a rather big fishing ship to sailboats and little canoes, all were resting there, abandon by their owners and just rotting as the powerful Abyss passed them by without paying attention, they were just debris after all, unable to stop them. As the waves pushed against the hulls of the done for ships no one notice that at the very end of the channel were the rocks gave way to the open sea, there was something odd, an inflatable launch with markings that belonged to the US navy and that unlike the rest of the ships in the line was floating and had its powerful engine ready to go. Inside of it were 3 girls, the one that was on the controls of the launch was almost as tall as Fusou but unlike her she had really disorganized short black hair and grey eyes that had more in common whit daggers than with eyes, in front of her were the other two, a destroyer girl with black eyes and chocolate hair that ended in a pony tail that was sitting to the left of a completely immobilized Abyssal Ri class cruiser, a threatening creature that despite been one of the most powerful things at sea just limited herself to gaze coldly to the horizon whit her glowing blue eyes without a single expression in her face as the destroyer girl pointed to her head whit a 5 inch gun that was covered whit black cloth to make it less obvious for any casual observer, but in reality that was just a gesture to spy movies because there was no camouflage or other consoling attribute in the launch, basically they were just at plain sight and any one that turned at the right time could have seen them, but the ship girls either ignored this or didn't care because they were as calm as if they were at Pearl Harbor.

As time passed many Abyssal went by, not a single one detected the very launch and its occupants, they just sailed by the side of it without hesitation, not that they were idiotic or blind, they simply were pre occupied with the imminent attack that was coming their way, there was no time to detail an out of place inflatable boat, the only way someone would have detected the girls is if it had stopped for a moment to actually see her surroundings, and sure enough, some did.

A column of battleships and cruisers passed the strait at full speed and like so many others they didn't even blink, or at least that was the case for the first thirteen Abyssal that comprised the column because the fourteen girl was distracted by a big commotion behind her, it was a big crash followed by a big orange flame that raised several feet into the stormy night, probably lightning detonating fuel of one of the sunken ships, the Abyss just looked at the explosion with indifferent eyes, as with the majority of its kind there was no way of knowing if she was shocked scared or just impressed by the sudden fireworks, all that was clear is that the explosion had made her fall behind the rest of her formation, and that had to be corrected if the intention was to defeat their enemy, she began turning her body in the other direction when she noticed something odd in the line of sunken boats that was close to her, light was scares been only provided by the diminishing orange glow of the explosion but nevertheless it was enough for the floating boat and three figures in it to be distinguishable, the Abyssal looked at it with her face showing a bit of confusion in a weird demonstration of emotions that indicated the launch had caught her attention, she began moving towards it at a snail pace as if fearing the boat was going to bite her; on the boat no one even flinched as the creature got closer, the Abyssal cruiser didn't try to get her attention, the destroyer girl was firm on her position not even lowering the five inch gun and finally the girl with grey eyes was as stoic as always, barely blinking as the enemy got to just a few steps from them before stopping dead on the water, seconds passed as the Abyssal stared at the boat and the figures in it that stared back from the darkness, it was uncomfortable at best and scary at worst, only something radical could break the scene and as if invoked that something drastic happened in the form of a monstrous lightning that illuminated all the zone as if it was day. The Abyssal eyes went wide as the occupants of the launch became clear to her in their entire bizarre splendor, the tall girl with black hair, the destroyer girl with a pony tail that was holding her left arm towards the head of one of her comrades in arms, the light disappeared in just one second but the second it was on was enough for the Abyss to figure out what the hell was going on, her guns turned simultaneously and pointed their barrels at the inflatable boat ready to blow that thing out of the water, but there was no change that was happening, the tall girl operating the controls turned the engine on in one blink, the sudden sound of the engine giving the attacker pause, then the ship girl forced the throttle to its absolute limit expressing every single horse power out of the motor giving the boat a big whack as it suddenly rocked forward, running over the Abyss girl in the process that went from powerful warship to an inadequate submarine as the launch passed her over, hitting her with the blades of the engine and then leaving her face down on the water with a very severe headache and a deep cut in her gut.

The launch went around at full speed maneuvering wildly as it dogged dozens of submarines, destroyers, cruisers and battleships that were sailing around getting ready to sink any girl that crossed their sights, ironically ignoring the two almost defenseless ones that were sailing around in a boat that had the same protection as a balloon, the only ones that remotely noticed the escapist girls was a group of submarines that was on the surface doing something when all the sudden the boat speeded by, pulling a sharp turn in front of their faces and filling their eyes and mounds with salt water as the big wake from the boat hit them like a locomotive, all of them screeched and some raised their hands in protest as the responsible went by at the speed a soul goes to hell. Onboard the launch very few things had changed after their escape was put into motion; the destroyer girl was a little uneasy but was still keeping guard at their prisoner that still showed as much emotion as a jellyfish, and at the wheel the tall girl was as stoic as always, only one thing having changed in her was that know she was singing, it was an old song that had nothing to do with the navy but it had some melancholy to it.

"All the burning bridges that are falling after me, all the lonely feelings and burning memories…" She sang to one in particular as she steered the launch in no particular direction but away from their enemies nevertheless.

The only time that they even showered down was after they finally got the Abyssal on their back, because with that part done they actually had to see were their fleet was because they were disoriented and none of them had their radars on, this problem was rather easily solved however as all the sudden the horizon was illuminated by orange flashes and tracer salvos that crossed the sky and landed all over the place exploding all over rocks, coral, their own lines! And sometimes their actual target.

"There you are loons"

Said the girls on the controls as the launch turned and moved again now towards the relative security of friendly lines, emphasis on _relative security_ because the bombardment was so insanely bad that even as they got closer the shells keep on falling around with the same frequency as it was before. Under such intense fire the mad maneuvers pulled by the boat keep on going uninterrupted as they now had to dodge their own side artillery. On the way they passed some friendly's that were having it as difficult as they, Sendai and destroyer squadron 11* were moving in the opposite direction at full speed almost as if their combined positivity made them impermeable to shells and providing a good contrast with Tenryuu and the Akatsuki sisters that were having it difficult to advance even an inch without a shell splash sending them backwards like shower toys or something just as inconsequential. All the while the launch pushed forward in the opposite direction gaining some glances from booth groups but not much else as there were more pressing issues like not been blown up.

After one final close call from a shell and a tight turn the launch and its occupants arrived to the destination, the grounded and bombarded hulk of the landing ship Kunisaki, its big door on her stern been inviting to escape the rain and the shells.

"Okay Craven, take our gets inside so we can talk to her"

"Yes Portland, you get moving" Responded the destroyer girl as she pulled the Abyss cruiser by her tied hands without lowering the gun from her head (the black cloth long gone from the gun) and then the 3 girls entered the big interior of the Kunisaki. The once proud and modern ship from the JSDF it had been bombed to pieces by a surprise attack a few years back and now was a wreck that could be use for very few things, inside cables hung from the ceiling like webs, the many shell holes made the interior as waterproof as an open box meaning anyone searching for a dry space was going to have a bad time, and while there was good amount lamps they were so randomly distributed that there were several black spots all around giving the space a hunted filling that was difficult to shake off, but on the good side it was still more dry than the exterior and the water inside was enough for the ship girls to sail freely between all the interior accommodations such like a table with radio equipment, another one with maps, lots of broken equipment that served as improvised desks and benches to sit and finally the big door at the stern of the ship, not much but better than been under fire, or at least that would have been the case if the imprecise barrage wasn't also falling all around the Kunisaki.

As Portland, Craven and their prisoner entered and went straight for the radio were a light cruiser was sitting alongside it and the heavy cruiser that was their battlefield commander that was talking (Or rather screaming softly) to someone that definitely was not having a good time, the girls arrived just in time to discoverer who that ship girl was and also to hear how that girl day got worst.

" … Hear me out Iowa because I want you to remember this for the rest of your live, I don't care how much Roma tries to impose gunnery techniques on you, I don't care how much Bismarck wines about how you are so incompetent and definitely how much Warspite complains about how all of you are _so uncivilized_ all of you are" She declared angrily adding a mocking tone when talking about Warspite "All I care about is that the fire from your group is falling on Tenryuu's group, is falling on Sendai's group, is barely touching the God damn enemy, and more importantly, is falling on my own bloody head!" She screamed before an explosion shook the Kunisaki from bow to stern, many were almost thrown to the flour as lamps and cables fell all over the place, when the commotion subsided the interior was an even bigger mess than it was before, with the ungrateful addition of a 10 feet hole in the sealing that let the rain water (Already abundant) enter in even more quantity, but all of this was secondary to the continuation of the discussion over the radio.

"You can't hear me?! Well, that is because you are firing the shells on your side, and they are falling on my side! So at you better pull it together, improve your aim and that of your partners, and stop shooting at me or else I am going to call William D. Porter* and make sure her torpedoes are aim well this time!"

The almost completely one sided conversation ended with the screaming girl dropping the radio and going towards Portland and Craven, in the mid time the light cruiser with curly hair that was sitting there took the radio and in a low tone spoke to poor fast battleship on the other side.

"Iowa? Here Honolulu, I recommend you don't pass by our dormitory for a long time, in fact I recommend you and all in you group go out of town for a time." While Honolulu was recommending Iowa to run for the hills, the heavy cruiser got up to Portland and Craven and began talking a little more calm but still having a passive aggressive tone on her voice.

"For the love of God Portland I told you to get my someone important of their fleet not a pale cruiser that makes Naka look like Atago" Despite the pointless nature of the comment it was rather true, the Abyssal was rather short and was as plain as a table, the only thing that identified her as a heavy cruiser had been the size of riggings that Portland and Craven had destroyed almost completely before tying her hands and putting her on the boat.

"Well Northampton, if you wanted someone different you should have sent someone else because I took the one I could and that turned up to be a Ri class cruiser" Responded Portland in low dragging tone "Besides Northampton this one is special, guess what he was doing when we catch her"

"Eating fried chicken? Doing voodoo? I don't know what she could be doing because they are brutes, they probably don't know how to speak!" Answered Northampton in the same tone she was using whit Iowa, but unlike Iowa Portland didn't lose her composure, but instead began smiling and responded in the same tone she used in the beginning.

"In that you are wrong my dear friend, because this gothic over here was reading Moby Dick loud and clear when we got to her." This raised the eyebrows of Northampton and of Honolulu that had finished telling Iowa to ran away and was now paying attention to the ongoing conversation, it was her that talked next.

"So she can read, I suppose that she can understand us?" All the ship girls shared glances before all settled their eyes on the Abyssal that was among them, the girl in question had her head a little down with hair covering nearly all of her face, she hadn't do as much as move since Portland and Craven had kidnapped her but after Honolulu talked something clicked in her because she immediately raised her head and cleared the mess of hair that covered her eyes and with a surprising delicacy moved her head apparently to see the little congregation that was around all expecting a response from her, for a while it appeared as if she was going to remain silent but out of nowhere her mount went open, everyone leaned forward in expectation and then.

"Yes, I understand you loud and clear"

Everyone except Portland had their eyes wide open after this, they had been ordered to kidnap an Abyss to learn more of them, but everyone thought it would be the same way students used frogs to learn more about biology, but no one had actually excepted to get responses from them.

"Well damn, out of everything in this new life this takes the cake as the most impressive one so far" Said Northampton in a voice that for once didn't carry the anger of a God with it. As for the Abyss prisoner she was still not moving much but the comment seemed to cause some humor to her because she began giggling in a low, creepy tone.

"What? Do we really cause such a bad reputation around here?" Said the Abyss in an ironic tone again enraged Northampton that at first looked ready to scream like the drill sergeant from Full Metal Jacket but then seamed to rethink that idea and just talked angrily.

"Anyhow you jerk; since you can talk we might as well interrogate you. Craven you can go, Gridley and McCall are playing cards back there and I don't see why you shouldn't joint them, but for the love of God put the totality of your rigging on, we are suppose to be called into this mess at any minute so at least pretend to be combat ready." Craven nodded and then went off to search for her sisters.

"Portland! Put her on those chairs over there and let's see what this psychopath has to say" Portland also nodded and pushed the Abyssal towards the _chairs_ that in reality were just a few upside down buckets that to their side had a helicopter engine that served as a table. They all took places in the improvise conference room, with the Abyssal sited in the left side of it, Portland opposing her and Northampton standing in the middle of them, her massive rigging (composed by a black painted bow section that went a couple of feet to her right and hoisted two superfiring triple turrets, a shorter stern section that hoisted a spotting tower and another triple turret all topped by a white tripod mast that stud over her head) almost touching both girls.

"So you nut" began Northampton as her left turret turned towards the head of the Abyssal "What can you tell us about this area?" The Abyssal just grinned and then said in a mocking tone.

"I won't tell you anything about our defenses or how our forces are composed; all I will tell you is that there will be a massive counter attack that will sweep all your forces once and for all."

"Yeah, yeah whatever mate we will kill your buffoons as they come so would you rather tell me about the resorts and beaches around here." Responded Northampton in an indifferent way that took the Abyssal by surprise, her scare tactics failed completely and that left her with only a confused face and no idea how to deal with these ships girls.

"Well… There is a fishing village in an island nearby" She began.

"No you nut I need information about the tourist destinations, resorts, big cruise ships that had beached, any place that is enjoyable for some girls."

Interrupted Northampton, again throwing the Abyss into a bigger confusion than she already was.

"Well, umm… eh, there is an hotel near the beach in this island called" She stopped for a second sounding more like a very timid destroyer than a serial killer "Miyako! Yes, the island is called Miyako and there is a hotel."

Northampton placed her right hand to her shin as if pondering about the response the confused Abyss had given her, and then she turned her head towards Honolulu.

"Hey Honolulu, search in that machine of yours this Miyako island" She nodded and then reached for a pocked in her white navy uniform and took the Smartphone she had recovered from a wreckage a few mounts ago and had become good at using it to the eternal sorrow of the admiral walled that gave the money for the data of the thing, she tapped in the search bar the name of the island and soon she had an answer for her irritable friend.

"Here it is, Miyako is the most populous of the island chain of the same name that are part of the Okinawa prefecture, is located approximately 190 miles away from Okinawa and 250 miles east from Taipei. It has an area of 158 square kilometers…" The exposition would have gone on if someone didn't run out of patience for it.

"Can you skip the damn geography class and get staid to the tourist attractions!" Screamed Northampton causing Honolulu to squeal as she almost dropped the phone to the water, there were a few desperate seconds of scrolling before the light cruiser spoke again.

"In the island of Miyako there are several tourist destinations, for the rich there are two golf camps, for the general population the Ueno German Culture Village is a popular attraction just like the Hot Spring located near the middle of the island and the most popular hotel in the island is the Atoll Emerald that is located near the beautiful Sunayama beach" Northampton looked at her satisfied with that answer, she smiled and turned her attention to the prisoner that was almost finish going form an evil girl to a very gothic Maruyu.

"So sweet heart, can you tell me if the hotel and the beach are still intact? Or did you scum backs ruin them like you always do?" The Abyss shuck on her place as if the weight of the question was going to kill her.

"As far as I remember all the island installations are in the same conditions as humans left them when they evacuated."

"Ma'am commander Salt says that you need to support Sendai and Tenryuu in their attacks, they are taking all the fire in the world and they could use some help!"Cried a child voice from all the way back at the entrance.

"What do you mean I need to support that failed attempts at a light cruiser?! We are supposed to be the second wake of this offensive!" Backed Northampton at the destroyer that was dressed with a white polo shirt and a blue mini skirt.

"Look Nora I don't know what is happening, I am just relating orders that probably come from Nagato anyway." She said in a sorry tone and hopping that using Northampton nickname would calm her down "Anyway Salt also wants to see you." But that last bit of information destroyed any good will the nickname might have created.

"That sorry excuse of a cruiser wants to see me?! Why would..."she stopped for a moment before realizing that resistance was futile, her immediate commander was ordering her to do something and the faster she carried out those orders the better for her.

"Aright I guess the Prima Dona wants to play the role of the admiral so let's obey. Craven, Gridley, McCall get your asses over to were the japs are and help them in what you can." The 3 sisters nodded and prepared themselves to go out into the thick of the action.

"Warrington you stay here and make sure everything is okay, make sure Honolulu keeps you updated about the tactical situation."

"Why do I have to be the caretaker of this awful place instead of going out and fighting the enemy?" Responded in protest the aggressive flotilla leader that in keeping with her battle hungry attitude had the totality of her rigging (2 double turrets on her shoulders, another 2 on her hands just like her Japanese counterparts and 4 triple torpedoes mounts on her thighs and legs) on her and was ready to go out.

"Because you are me subordinate and if I tell you to go to mars you have to go there, is that clear you nut?!" Screamed Northampton at Warrington that after her face became a tomato just sighted and dragged herself to were the radio was.

"Honolulu you keep your ears on the radio. And Portland you keep an eye on the new pet we got here."

"What about me?" Asked the destroyer still standing on the entrance of the ship.

"You Marty please escort to wherever salt is, I don't want to pull a Maya and get sunk by a submarine before a mayor action*" Remarked Northampton putting a smile on everyone around her, with how different this new live was an opportunity to take a shot at their former enemies was always welcome even if it was rhetorical.

"Nora I think it is better to take the prisoner to the base for better interrogation" Interfered Portland still griming from the comment but a lot more serious than anyone was at the moment, Northampton looked at her and with a lot more constrain than usual responded.

"Look Portland, we better make thing our own way here, if you think she needs interrogation you do it here and then we report your findings." She said barely received a response from Portland that only stared at her as if to say _okay_.

"Any way." Said Northampton in a clamorous way while turning her body to the exit "Everyone knows what to do so let's rollout!"She gained momentum quickly and soon was alongside the destroyer girl that was waiting for her.

"Hey Northampton" Spoke set destroyer whit a high pitch voice.

"What?"

"Please don't call me Marty"

Northampton turned her head and looked the destroyer to the eye.

"Why not? It is your name after all" She responded without a trace of irony on her voice. The destroyer jumped back a few feet whit her face pale, eyes wide as plates and her eyebrows moving erratically, she then recomposed herself and stud firm putting her harms on her waist just over her two 5 inch guns that were there.

"My name is USS Maury DD 401, a Gridley class destroyer with 16 battle stars and a presidential unit citation to my name that again is MAURY not MARTY, the last one is a movie character not a ship." Northampton's face was completely indifferent to this with just the blackness of her eyes giving Maury the chills.

"Yeah right Marty lets go" Northampton sailed forward gaining speed while Maury was in shock for a second before regaining conscience again and then ran towards Northampton trying to catch her. Shortly after the other members of the Gridley class (Craven, McCall and Gridley herself) were standing at the edge of the entrance of the entrance with Gridley in front of her 2 sisters.

"Okay ladies, let's show the Japs and the Abyss what a goldplater* can do!" she said enthusiastically with her right hand on the air, her two sisters also raised her hands on the air and screamed to the full capacity of their lungs "Yes sis let's go!" And soon after the 3 destroyers went ahead at full speed towards the enemy, leaving only Warrington, Honolulu, Portland and their prisoner inside the hull of Kunisaki. The Abyssal was by now just staring at Portland that was still sitting opposite to her and looking at her with un-readable eyes, the atmosphere was tense and while the Abyssal had recovered from the stupefaction of talking to Northampton she was clearly on the edge because her hands shaking and her left foot was moving up and down in quick succession.

"So my lady" Began Portland in a slow drawl "Do you have something to say?"

"As I said at the beginning, I will not tell you about our forces and I will not help you with anything" The Abyss responded as calmed as she could be. Portland scanned her body and noticed something odd hanging from her left arm.

"What do you have here? A bag?" Said Portland as she reached for a small leather bag that was hanging from a small handle were the Abyss had squeezed her arm into, the reason something like this had gone without been noticed was because it was the same shade of black that the Abyss clothes. Portland leaned forward and took the bag with both hands.

"Can I see what is inside it?" Portland said to the Abyss leader in way that implied that there was no way she wasn't seen the bag's content, in respond the pulled back with unexpected force and said.

"First you untie my hands" She demanded raising her hands that were restricted by an entangle metal cable that looked as heavy as they were.

After minutes of fighting with the metal anaconda the Abyss hands were again free however it took longer for her to star massaging her wrist than for Portland to take the bag from her, she digged into the bag and at first she only found a big collection of random objects that went from sea shells and pens to broken phones and CD's that chances were she had found floating on the sea or on inside wrecked ships. At the very bottom of the back Portland discovered two thing that caught her attention, the first one she discarded almost instantly because it turned up to be just a light novel that was as interesting to Portland as boxing was to most of her Japanese counterparts, the second objet on the other hand proved to be much more eye-catching to her, the thing in question was a metal box about the size of a Spam can that was firmly closed with two simple locks.

"What is this, a clock or something?" enquired Portland to an Abyssal that was breading heavily all the sudden, it was almost as if something important was on that box.

"Nothing" responded harshly the Abyss "I only like how beautiful it looks so I keep it around" No one was really sure how much the Abyssal had in common with humans and ship girls, but if the blushing and nervous tics were any indication they had the same laying capabilities as a 5 year old.

"So I am guessing that if I open it I will see nothing?" There was no response, which for Portland meant that she had to open the box even if it was to mess with her defeated enemy. She took the box whit both hands and with her thumps she opened the locks simultaneously.

"Holy Jesus…" Was all Portland could say as the content of the box became visible. Inside was a big, fat bundle of green bills that was adorned by weird starts, flowers and a guy that looked like an Ottoman admiral, the only thing that identified the papers as money and not a postcard of sorts was a name written in it, Brunei, and the number 10.000 written at the top and the bottom of the paper. Seen this Portland took the bills out and threw the _beautiful_ box out of View, be that point the Abyssal was clearly near the edge, and why wouldn't she be? She had clearly gotten herself captured by the most non-sensencical ship girls in the seven seas that had taken all her belongings and had discovered she was in position of a good amount of money, but if Portland thought those facts would convert her prisoner into an open book she should hold back herself from betting any time soon.

"So, care to explain why this nothing looks like cash?" Asked Portland in a little cocky voice, the Abyss seemed to recoil from this and then in a super defensive way that came out of nowhere responded "It's something I found floating around! A thing so insignificant I didn't even remember that I had it." By that point even someone lacking in observation could have noticed that the Abyss was hiding something, and someone a little more perceptive would have deducted that there was little chance she would revealed it without a fight, unless something was done to lower her defense.

"Okay you mad dog come with me" Portland commanded and reluctantly the Abyssal obeyed and rose up. They walked towards the radio set were Honolulu and Warrington were arguing about their service record and like any time this subject came up Warrington was all salty because she had the least battle starts out of all the members of the squadron (only 2) and that was not even mentioning how she had sunk, but before that part came out Portland appeared and interrupted the duel.

"Honolulu give me the whisky if you please." She said coldly gaining surprised looks from the two of them.

"Jesus Portland why would you give the good old Tennessee whisky to this abomination." Protested the light cruiser while holding another bottle on her left hand "Why don't you give her some Sake instead?" Suggested the girl in a little go lucky way, this did not impress Portland at all.

"Because if my first alcoholic drink was that crap I would hang the idiot that gave it to me, so give me the damn whisky please" Said in an aggressive way.

"Geez okay you psycho here it is" Honolulu said as she reached for the whisky bottle that Portland ripped from her hands and then dragged the Abyssal to the other side of the room.

"Forget Nagato, Roma and even Northampton, the real killer here is that cruiser over there that talks like a cowboy and commands like Halsey" whispered Warrington to Honolulu's ear.

"You are absolutely right" She responded whit another whisper "I think it has to do whit her and Indianapolis been designed as flag ships, but unlike her sister that is an inspiring lieder that you follow come hell or high water, Portland here is more like do this or I will slowly strangle you" Warrington nodded as the two of them looked with mix of fear and respect at the black haired girl that at that moment was taking a sit with their deathly foe without having a trace of fear on her face, they were expectant to see what would happen (Maybe she was going to hit the nut whit the bottle?)But before they could witness what was going to happen the radio sounded back to live and soon they were back at it hearing the train wreck that was happening around them.

At the same time Portland and the Abyssal were again seated face to face but this time the Abyss had even less idea what was going to happen to her, she was just sitting there trying to defeat the eyes that were drilling into her face, it was rather scary even for a creature such as her.

"So, do you want Whisky?" Asked Portland opening the bottle with a piece broken glass and then extending the full bottle to her foe.

"I don't want to take part in a human custom…"Began protesting the Abyss before been interrupted.

"Is just a simple drink not a religious ritual, so just enjoy it as I am telling you to do okay?"Rebutted Portland as she almost forced the bottle on the Abyss mouth, she pulled back as far as she could but then she just stared at the mouth of the bottle as if all the sudden she had been enchanted by the golden liquid inside.

"Just a drink?" Asked the Abyssal in gingerly way.

Portland nodded and whit a simple "Okay" she took the bottle from her hands and making a good impression of o drunken sailor she raised the bottle and gulped down a big sip of the good old American whisky.

 **IN THE MEANTIME SOMEWERE ELSE.**

The spectacle of fire power that was on that night was something truly amazing to see, not since the battle of Jutland more than a century before had so many capital ships exchanged fire with ferocity and for long, their guns turning the night into day every time they were fired. In the middle of this massive exchange of fire the cruisers and destroyers were also dueling against each other the way they knew how, at close quarters, with torpedoes and low caliber guns been exchange as quickly as possible, the massive brawl taking its toll on all sides as ship girls and Abyssal kicked the crap out of each other. At the margin of all of this and somehow intact after passing through such a massive chaos Northampton and Maury made it to were the _commander in chief_ of their task force was at the moment. The place was one of the biggest rock formations in area been more of an island than anything around it, it was at least 500 feet long and at least 300 wide, whit a few palm trees and a one small vacation house populating the landscape, at the other side of the island a dock was clearly visible with at least one sailboat in it.

"Okay Marty wait for me here and keep an eye for any nut that dares to get close, if the attacker is anything bigger than a destroyer you inform us and then the three of us fire, if there is a destroyer or anything like that you fire at will and at least I will rush to help you, is that clear?"Ordered Northampton to the destroyer girl that nodded in response.

"Okay but don't call me Marty"

"Just do it you nut!"A big drop of sweat appeared in Maury's forehead and then she turned to face the ocean from where an attack could come, Northampton sighted and then presided to go towards the docks. In there they were a couple inflatable boats, a fast launch capable of transporting 6 people was also there but the most predominant thing in it was a big 60 feet sailboat that whit her white hull and tall mast commanded the waters the same way the great white fleet* did, inside this marvelous ship there were a few sounds that alongside the lights that were on confirmed were Salt was at the moment.

"Hey Salt" Called Northampton as she got closer to the sail boat, getting no answer from the insides of the ship.

"Hey Salt! What the hell do you want me for?!" Screamed a now piss off Northampton as she got closer.

"Oh Northampton, give me just a moment" Came the respond from one of the portholes of the sail boat, Northampton gave an angry face and as she crossed her arms on her chest she barked "Hurry". A minute or two passed by and Northampton loss bit by bit her patience until finally she lost it completely when a glance at the beach revealed almost all of Salt's rigging just lying there as If a giant battle wasn't going on around them " _All those girls doing their best and this jackass is here doing god knows what"_ she thought and decided to go onboard the sailboat and take proper action against Salt, she pulled herself up and in the process the massive weight of her equipment almost made the ship roll over until she was finally on deck, she walked up to an open door that leaded below decks were Salt was.

"Hey salt what do you want?" Again no response from her commander.

"You little bastard" For the hard nut heavy cruiser that was enough, one of the turrets on her left side swung around and whit a heavy boom it fired to the distance illuminating the entire island and shaking the boat from top to bottom moving it a couple of feet out of the dock, that finally got the attention of Salt Lake City.

"Geez I know you are here so calm down" Said in a conceited tone the heavy cruiser as she raised from bellow, the golden ornaments on her head looking ridiculous when contrasting with the grey tripod that raised above her, the dress she wore didn't help either, while it was true that more than one ship girl had wore something that wasn't a variation of a navy uniform, as far as Northampton knew only the Pensacola sisters had 1920's dancer dresses as their normal clouding, it probably had to do whit them been laid down well before the economy went down hell on 1929, but still, Northampton and her sisters had also been laid down before the crash and they didn't look like a movie star, this clouding was always cause of scoffing and jokes from other heavy cruisers from the US and even some from Japan but at least Salt Lake always refuted by saying that the as dress was _decent_ and thatit was fine for her to wore it, completely ignoring the fact that the thing had enough cleavage to make even Iowa blush and that it showed to much leg to be taken seriously.

"So, how are you doing?"Asked salt once she was on deck "Is everything okay?" The question took Northampton out of base; the commander was asking the subordinate if all was okay, when she was supposed to know what was happening!

"I don't know ma'am, you were the one asking for me so I suppose YOU are the one with something to tell me." Salt Lake face was revolted by a disgusting grin that came and when in one second clearly indicating she had not liked the comment, after a moment she composed and before responding she forced a smile.

"Oh well you see, we have news from the admiral at Pearl, he says we are going to be relieved by the light cruisers from TG38.3 and destroyers from Desron 65 that was recently formed from new comers of the Gearing class, any way they are coming in a week and after we report to the flag ship New Jersey (That is coming at some point after this operation) we have orders to get out of here and to sail to Jakarta to support the Dutch at securing the java sea, in respond to that Nagato has order us to stay in the base after this operation to save some resources or something, in any case after tonight we are out of action." She said whit a tone that suggested that what she had said were good news, but for Northampton that couldn't be further from the truth.

"What do you mean we are out of action after this operation is over? We and the girls are supposed to stay here indefinitely, not only that we were supposed to have 3 days of leave OUTSIDE THE BASE not enclosed in the base as if we were prisoners of the japs. Not only that but our task force is the one that have been bomb on, fired upon, push around and spit on since we took back Wake island all that time ago, and you are to tell me that after resisting all of this those nuts of the Cleveland and Gearing classes are going to come here and take part in the final push against this trash fleet? That's nonsense, we are the ones that have taken part in the majority of these operations since we were reborn here and WE should get this done alongside the Japs".

Salt Lake City forced smile transformed into a weird grin and then she responded with something out of left field "Actually one of them is Miss Reno from the Atlanta class."

"THAT'S NOT THE POINT AT ALL." Responded Northampton all hysterical, her face red and smoke coming out of her ears "The point is that like in the last war the modern and shiny ships are going to take part in the closing ceremonies while US, the depression era ships that had done so much to make victory possible just get a mention on the history books but none of the glory." What Northampton was saying was one of the hard truths of the United States navy, while it had been the cruisers, destroyers and carriers built in the thirties that had resisted the unstoppable Japanese advance in the first six months of the war and after turning the tide at Midway they had counterattacked at Guadalcanal suffering through another six months of hardship and pain to make the first offensive operation of the war a success, it had been the ships that had come after that took all the glory and fame, not that anyone really a questioned about their battle capabilities or about their contributions in the conflict, but for many it was unfair that ships like San Francisco and Enterprise whit almost two dozen awards got to the scrap yard and ships like Yorktown Junior or Salem became museum ships, there was even more layers to this dispute that keep the topic alive but that didn't matter to Salt Lake when even the basis of this passed over her head, she simply did not care.

"Look, orders are orders and I have all the intention of fulfilling them." Said Salt Lake turning away from Northampton and again entering the interior of the Sailboat, leaving Northampton in a state of total shock, it was impossible for even her to resist such a dunce ship girl, giving up the subject she then focused on the other topic that had her mad.

"Okay so we are going to Indonesia to help De Ruyter, the Java sisters and the other Dutch in there." Began Northampton trying to regain the attention of her commander that at the moment of looking at the crockery of the boat "But why us? And why to bloody Indonesia?! From what I hear the government there barely gives any help, their barracks are crap, the food is awful and all the intelligence has to come from Rotterdam because no one in Jakarta will give it to them"

"Well, you have become spoiled from your experience here in Japan, is time for you to get back to a true military live."

"What are you talking about?! The fast battleships make BBQ's every day, the destroyers in Hawaii have a chocolate fountain at their base and the four stackers in the Philippines have a soda machine at their quarters, it is because of your lack of interest that this squadron was the only one that was still receiving Spam rations before we came here." Salt turned to see the raging cruiser to the eyes and with the most condescending tone any ship girl had ever spoken she said.

"If you have a problem whit all of that then you should talk to the admiral." Northampton was livid but then again what was the point of continuing the rant, it was clear as day she was going no were and whatever illness Salt had was to terminal to get anything across to her, so it was better to just give up and get on to something else before she decided to just destroy the sailboat whit Salt in it.

"Whatever you nut, do you need help whit anything?"

"Oh no, the motor of this ship is fine, the sails are in one piece and the hull is intact, you should probably return to the Kunisaki and see what is happening around us." Northampton sighted in relive after hearing this, at least this idiot didn't required any assistance in stealing the ship and she would be spared of having to cooperate whit her in an attempt of been on her _good side_ (Whatever that was) But then she was hit by rather irritating realization.

"So wait, you made me come all the way here just to tell me something you could have tell me at any other time!" she began raging again but a sudden shout from Maury came before another pointless argument could begin.

"Ma'am there are 10 Ro class destroyers and 4 Chi class torpedo cruisers coming our way, they are 3 miles to the south-east and coming fast."

"Okay I am going in one second." Northampton responded and got herself out of the boat and began making headway towards her companion, when she got a couple of feet away from the boat Salt Lake City screamed to her out of nowhere.

"Don't worry about me; I will get this sailboat out of here before they can get me"

"As if I cared you moron" Muttered Northampton without turning back to acknowledge her commander, if anything she was wishing the Abyssal got her so someone more competent was put in charge of their task group.

 **Sometime latter back at Kunisaki.**

"Hey Warrington" talked Honolulu trying to get the attention of the destroyer leader that was standing at the entrance of the ship, Warrington barely heard her but she still turned around and sailed towards the radio were Honolulu was still trying to figure out what was going on.

"What is it?"

"I think we should get out of here before the Abyss gets us." Said Honolulu in a low voice.

"Why? What is happening anyway? Outside it looks like the horizon is on fire or something."Asked Warrington raising an eyebrow.

"This operation is done for, out of the 6 groups of destroyers and cruisers that were supposed to break their lines all are reporting that they are in problems and at least Agano and Abakuma are saying they are done for and that their groups are retreating, the only thing that is keeping them from running is the fire support of the battleships and all three groups are saying that they are low on fuel and ammunition." She paused silently gulping before continuing "It's a matter of time before the order of retreat is given and I suggest we get out of here in anticipation of that." Warrington pondered for a few seconds and then made a confused look.

"That can't be right, the group of Iowa and the other foreign ships I get it they spend a lot of ammunition on nothing, but the groups of Mutsu and Musashi? Those girls are super serious and professional, there is no way they allowed wasteful spending of ammunition."

"That's the problem; there was no wasteful spending of ammunition, for the most part." Honolulu said adding the last part in an embarrassed tone "there are dozens and maybe even hundreds of Abyssal out there, the cruisers and the destroyers had fired their torpedoes and now the only defense left are the battleships, and if that goes down we will have our asses hanging in the air, so I suggest we put the radio in the boat, and get some cover before we join the fishes at the bottom of the sea." Warrington was silent for a moment, she was quickly realizing how bad everything was and how they were more or less doom unless they moved ASAP, but even then she keep calm, not expressing anger or fear in any way, that was one of the weird characteristics of her, whit the exception of the burning desire to join a battle there was almost nothing that could disturb her, that was the reason she served as the executive officer of the task force despite been out rank be Portland and Honolulu.

"Okay, but shouldn't we wait for Northampton to return?"

"Look Warrington, I esteem Nora as much as Miss Enterprise and Miss Hornet CV8 do*, but those aren't friendly shells any more, those are enemy shells and let my make this clear, I will not get sunk waiting for anyone and if you wait in here for her you are going to end up sleeping whit the fishes."

"Okay I get it." Interrupted Warrington finally getting the point "We will get out of here in a moment but first try to contact whit Louisville and our girls at Desrom 17, they were taking part in mess and I want to know if we can randevu whit them…" Before she could finish the sentence there was a loud BANG followed by a BUM and the sound of metal twisting and collapsing upon its self, the entire ship shook and everything that wasn't hold in place flew a couple of feet in all directions, when all the commotion stopped Warrington was on the ground having been hit by a lamp square in the face and Honolulu was hogging the radio trying to prevent it from falling off.

"For the love of God what the hell was that?!" Screamed Warrington as she got back to her feet cleaning her uniform in the process.

"Sorry little one but the wall was in the way and I needed to get in." Said a southern voice that came from where the explosion had happened.

"Jesus Christ Louisville, don't you see the big door that you can use without destroying the entire ship." Protested Honolulu causing the heavy cruiser to giggle wildly like a mad cowboy.

"Well sorry pal but there is no time to be educated; we are taking all the fire in the world out here." Responded Louisville finally entering the hull followed by the members of Desrom 17, four of the eight members of the Bagley class that looked like they had a fight whit a tiger inside a boiler, they were all covered in soot and their uniforms were torn apart in an extreme way, all had damage in their riggings be it missing antennas or bent guns and torpedoes tubes and at least Blue and their commander Jarvis were ankles deep in the water, Louisville was holding a little better but she was clearly wounded and if the weird angle her number three gun had was any indication at least one third of her fire power was gone.

"Let me tell you, out there are like 20 or 30 of those freaks making their way towards the battleships, we were also going that way but before we could reach Mutsu and the Kongou sisters this big group of destroyers overtook us and we had to change course to evade, and well now we are here." Said Louisville breading heavily and bending down a little as if trying to regain some strength. Warrington and Honolulu looked at each for a moment while this was happening, if there was any doubt the situation was beyond salvation now it was a fact written in stone.

"Okay Honolulu, tell Iowa we are going her way, then get that radio on the boat and get ready for combat." Honolulu nodded and began moving dials in the radio in a frantic way, as for Warrington she then turned towards Louisville and the tired destroyers of Desrom 17 and in a commanding but not that harsh tone spoke to them.

"Okay girls I know you are damage and exhausted but we need to get moving in a moment so prepare yourselves as well as you can"

"Can't we just wait here for reinforcements?" Asked Blue in a tired voice.

"No way! If we stay here we are going under." Responded Helm in a panicky voice.

"You two always arguing, I just want to get to the base and talk to Hibiki, unlike you she is actually nice to talk." Protested Bagley in a vacant way.

"All of you shut up and obey Warrington, umm, yes! Get ready to get out of here at moment notice." Ordered the leader of the squadron Jarvis trying to sound like a general.

"Hey look, she thinks she is a destroyer leader again." Mocked Bagley having a little grin on her face.

"No I am not! I AM the leader of destroyer squadron 17 and I am taking as such." Cried out loud Jarvis whit her fist shut and under her chin.

"Just get ready to depart at any minute and shut it already." Ordered Warrington making all the destroyers stand up respond to her whit a simultaneous "Yes ma'am!" That made Louisville chuckle.

"Hey Warrington we have orders from Mutsu, she says we have to hold their advance for a moment while Iowa's group prepares for a final barrage and after that we all pull out." Reported Honolulu screaming over the sound nearby explosions that all the sudden increased in intensity and frequency.

"Hold them back whit what? Most of our force is already engaged or heavily damage, heck, I am the only one whit torpedoes left." Protested Warrington whit her hands on her head.

"Look, that is what she ordered and judging by her voice there is no time to negotiate." Warrington took a deep breath and after a moment she sighted, she was right, the situation was a total loss and no matter how calm and cold headed Mutsu was there was no change she was going to negotiate orders whit a group of loud American ships.

"Okay, confirm we received the order and then put the radio on lunch once and for all." Honolulu nodded and then returned to her job, for her part Warrington turned towards the rest of group and putting her hand on her waist said.

"Okay girls you know what to do. Move out know!"

"HAHA, you know little one, if you keep the tough act for a long time maybe you will become a light cruiser or something, but until then try preventing the vain in your forehead from exploding, believe me, if you do that you will live longer than Miss Texas." Joked Louisville as she raced to the entrance of the ship, all the destroyers sighted simultaneously and made their best effort to catch up to the heavy cruiser.

"Listen up kids, let's get out of here so we can go get us some good ice-cream, I don't know about you but I want one very badly." Said Louisville in an attempt to shear up her troop's whit only limited success.

"Whatever Lu just led the way." Said Bagley making Louisville blush at how bad her attempt at humor had failed.

"Just move out!" Screamed Warrington from behind and whit that all of them went again to the open seas and into the heat of the battle. Left behind were Honolulu and Warrington that were finally putting the radio on the boat.

"Why do we carry this around anyway?" Asked Honolulu as she accommodated the thing besides the boat controls.

"Because our radios are older and have a hard time getting the signal from the Japos" Answered Warrington as she cheeked the motor of the thing.

"And because if we lose it the admiral will have our heads on a silver platter." She added as the engine roared back to live, she almost gave the order to go out when she remembered the other ship girl that was still around.

"Hey Portland are you coming or what?"

"Go ahead I catch up to you latter." From all the way back from the room the cruiser responded, Warrington was annoyed by this but if incoming fire was any indication there was no time to protest or argue that much.

"Okay do as you please, but if you get sunk I will not be the one to tell Indianapolis about it." Portland seamed indifferent to the treat and just nodded in response without moving a limp or at least expressing concern, Warrington sighted and controlling the impulse to insist she just moved the throttle of the boat just enough to make the thing move forward.

"Listen up Honolulu, we are going to move this at 30 knots and you and are going to steer this towards our lines, are you read?"

"I am ready let's get going!" Honolulu screamed and faster than it should have been possible the destroyer and the light cruiser were out of there, leaving inside a lot broken lamps, even more broken equipment, Portland and a completely drunken Abyssal. Even considering that the thing had drank 2/3 of the bottle in what probably was her first time whit alcohol it was still impressive how gone she was, she couldn't even sit straight, she was making circles whit her body as she went back and forward mumbling in a tongue that could pass as Martian for many. The Abyssal all the sudden stopped and raised her head to look at the serious face of Portland, she stared at her whit a dopey face for a few seconds and then began collapsing forwards, but before she fell to the ground Portland stopped her by putting her boot on her chest and pushing her back a little, Portland was silent for a few seconds contemplating her opponent as she began making weird noises whit her throat, then she spoke low but dominant.

"So tell me dear enemy, from where did you get this cash?" She demanded displaying the roll of money in front of the Abyssal eyes, getting no response from her. Portland stood up and put her hands on the shoulders of the Abyssal and began shaking the thing really hard.

"Come on where did you get this money?" She insisted only getting sounds in response.

"Speak English! Tell me in English from where you got this money!"

"From a yacht _hic"_ Responded the Abyssal all the sudden making Portland stop the shaking, she lowered herself to see eye to eye whit the Abyssal, the grey daggers drilling into the blue fires of the Abyssal.

"Can you tell me where is that yacht is?" Pressed on Portland getting even closer to the Abyssal.

"It is yacht that many moons ago ran aground on an island called Drummond that is close to china _hic"_ babbledon the Abyssal almost vomiting more than once. Portland thought about that information for a minute, Drummond island, close to China, she had a hunch but she didn't have an extensive knowledge of the area, he needed a bit more of information.

"Is this Drummond island surrounded by other islands that make up a lagoon?"

"Yes, yes, yes _hic_ " Confirmed the Abyssal dragging every word "the yacht was in this lagoon of yours _hic_ and the lagoon is surrounded by even more islands and reefs _hic_ " Completed the Abyssal making an effort to stay conscious, as for Portland that indicated exactly where this yacht was.

"The Paracel Islands." She whispered; the archipelago was a group of forgotten islands a hundred couple miles south of China, aside from a naval battle regarding the ownership of the islands in 1974* nothing really interesting had happened in there, until that moment.

"I saw as the yacht beached after we chase her." Continued the Abyssal "Onboard was a fat guy and a lot of people helping him get to a boat, I thing he was what humans call… a millionaire or a fat cat or something like that… they got off the yacht just to be eaten by our destroyers and after that some of us got into the thing. There were some things of value, some coins, some fabrics _hic_ and this giant metal box that was full whit this decorated papers, they were beautiful you know? They had this person drawn in them, the number, and the words they had written in them… Negara Brunei or something like that…" The rambling stopped all the sudden and she began making circles again.

"Do you know how much money there is?" Asked Portland again getting no response, she began shaking the Abyssal again making the eyes of it roll on her skull. "How much cash there is?!"

" 21" Was the only thing the Abyss said, Portland stopped and again looked the Abyssal in the eyes, making sure even someone so gone knew she meant business "21 what?" The Abyssal moved her hands over her head and then began mumbling before she screamed all the sudden "Million" collapsing over herself immediately after that, folding in the most comical way. As for Portland she had her eyes as open as plates, if what this Abyssal was telling her was true (And considering how intelligent she appeared to be and how gone she was Portland had little reason to believe she was wrong or lying) there were 21 million Bruneian dollars sitting on an abandon yacht on the Paracel islands, that was to good to be left behind, granted there were dollars from a country called Brunei and chances were they weren't as valuable as actual dollars but such a quantity surely had to amount to something, whit all of that in mind there was only one doubt on her mind.

"Are there any of your forces in that island?" Inquired Portland raising her voice, the Abyssal only responded by grunting, Portland slapped her in the face whit a tremendous force and then shock the Abyssal even more violently than before, the Abyssal began grunting louder and lauder until she sounded like a motor, then all the sudden she raised her hands and took Portland by her wrist forcing the cruiser to stop the assault, they just stared at each other for a few seconds before the Abyssal began smiling and said "Two light cruiser princes and one battleship princes are in there." She then rubbed Portland's face whit her right hand. Portland released the Abyssal and stepped back stopping just in time to see the Abyssal collapse to her left and face plant into the water.

"I guess I have to thank you miss" Said Portland to herself as she contemplated the body of her prisoner lying there inert "You gave me tons of valuable information about something wonderful." She finished griming, whatever the Abyssal did to her before or after was now secondary to what this one specifically told her, because that information was very live changing, more than a wound, more than a live lesson, more than almost anything.

 **Some were else at more or less the same time.**

The 3 cruisers and 4 four destroyers of the American task force were sweating it out trying to hold the hordes of Abyssal that were bearing down on them. The poor destroyers of Destroyer division 17 were maneuvering like hell trying to not get hit again since they were in not condition to take more damage, Louisville was firing from the back of the formation only using her guns when she had a clear target in sight, contrasting whit Honolulu that was blazing away at everything that moved and didn't look like a fleet girl, her amazing battery of 15 guns illuminating the night like it was 4 of July before impelling an enemy when their shells impacted, as for Warrington she had gone ahead and launched a torpedo attack against a battleship that blew out of the water as the fishes impacted her and then had moved all around, her 8 guns blazing away at the infinite amount of targets that were all around; Honolulu had lost sight of her as the destroyer leader had continued whit her mad dash deep between the enemy formation, be it as a compensation of seen little combat on her previous live or because destroyers leader had a warrior like attitude Warrington was always the first to enter combat and the last to leave it and be some sort of miracle that would make even the girls of taffy 3 blush she always came out in one piece. All of this was not in Honolulu mind however as she just poured salvo after salvo into the incoming enemy, that's why she was taken by surprised when all the sudden Northampton, Maury, and even Warrington appeared on her left, booth Northampton and Maury looked like they had passed through a shooting gallery, their guns glowing red and their uniforms all torn apart, and even Warrington appeared to have suffered a hit square in the face as it was covered by a thick layer of soot.

"Hey Northampton glad to see you alive!" Cheered Honolulu seen her friend by her side "But you look like a coal miner." Northampton nodded whit a little smile on her face.

"Well we had to make our way through a fleet worth of enemies so is no wonder we don't look like lady liberty." She said whit a little chuckle accompanying the comment, but immediately returned to her usual seriousness and began speaking like the commander she was.

"So what are our standing orders?" She demanded.

"We have to hold position until the battleships under Iowa's command are ready to erase these bastards out of existence whit their last salvos, then we all pull out." Replayed Warrington over the sound of another salvo from the enemy.

"Good, at least the only one that gets over run is Salt Lake"

"Where's she anyway?" Asked Honolulu, Northampton grunted and screamed the respond.

"She is salvaging a sailboat!"

"A sailboat!" Responded Warrington and Honolulu simultaneously in utter shock.

"Yes a sailboat" repeated Northampton annoyed "At least the idiot is not bothering us. "

"O my God that gal is out of mind." Muttered Warrington remaining Northampton of another member of the group that was also a little nut's.

"Where's Portland?" She demanded making Warrington shrug.

"She is still inside the Kunisaki." Responded the destroyer.

"Why is she still inside the ship!?"

"We told her we were going but she is just crazy." Screamed Honolulu losing her composure as all the sudden enemy salvos came in whit increased frequency, the little group dispersed in response and all the girls began pouring shells at the enemy formation that was getting closer and closer by the second, as the rumble of the guns keep its loud omnipresence all around the ship girls it was only challenged by the almost as powerful voice of Northampton.

"Message Iowa, tell her to give me 10 minutes so I can go get Portland, if by the time the barrage ends we are no were to be seen you get your souls out of here, don't worry about us if that happens because either we are just a little late or already on David Jones looker, is it clear?"

Booth Honolulu and Warrington nodded and the second one began making headway towards to boat were the radio was and soon after Northampton herself moving in the direction of the enemy. During their previous lives the cruisers of the Northampton class had a tendency of engaging in frantic and destructive night battles, Houston at Sunda strait, Louisville at Surigao strait and Northampton herself at the battle of Tassafaronga, now after been reborn and having pass through a lot more operations than in WW2 Northampton found herself in another night brawl that only an American ship could have found comfortable, everything on her rigging that was capable of firing was doing so at enemies that were no more than a couple of feet away from her, she took many hits in quick succession but she returned them whit interest costing a lot of Abyssal their lives and making their attempts at stopping her in vain. After a dash that felt like took an hour but in reality took more or less 4 minutes Northampton found herself in a poked whit no enemies that in the middle of it had what she was looking for, Kunisaki in all its decrepit and rusted glory was standing there, clearly illuminated under the curtain of tracers that filled in the sky, right there and then Northampton could have celebrated the fact that she had managed to come this far, but there was no time for that, her radar was gone but just the sound of big caliber guns been fired very close told her whatever was coming was big, powerful, ugly and not that far.

She got herself into the big door that led to the dark interior of the landing ship and without waiting a second she barked.

"Portland! Where are you hiding you crazy cruiser?!" Out in the distance in what sounded like the deepest part of the cavern came a calm response.

"I am over here."

"You have done this time Portland, this position is about to be overrun by all the Abyssal in the world and you here doing God knows what as if this was your private office." Began ranting Northampton fiercely"What on earth is taking you so long?"

"I am getting ready to carry this Abyssal prisoner to the base." Responded Portland in a very nonchalant way while accommodating the last pieces of her rigging, at the same time Northampton got close to her.

"Just shoot her so we can go." Demanded the heavy cruiser getting impatient.

"If I shoot her we won't get the money" Rebutted Portland getting Northampton to raise an eyebrow, predicting the following question Portland continued.

"There are 21 million Bruneian dollars in a yacht in the Paracel Islands and I have all the intentions of getting them." Northampton sighted angrily; she was clearly divided about that plan but before she could begin arguing the distinctive sound of someone's 16 inch guns broke through the night, followed by an orchestra of 15 inchers that sounded so similar and different at the same time.

"God dammed Iowa I told you 10 minutes!" Ranted Northampton throwing her fist up in the air, then she pulled herself together and in a blink was by the right side of the Abyssal trying to get the creature up.

"Are you gonna help me or what?" Asked Northampton in a tone that said _It's your problem you jackass_ and sure enough Portland positioned herself on the left side of the Abyssal and both of them began pulling the drunken enemy out of the hull and into the open seas. The Abyssal moved uncomfortably in a vain attempt to get free, failing to do so but making the work of Northampton and Portland three times as hard as the Abyssal kicked, pulled and even slapped in her attempts of freedom that only served to enrage Northampton, but before she could reply whit all her fury the group was thrown out a couple of feet away by a giant blast that came from behind, Northampton and Portland stud up and turned just in time to see a giant flash impale Kunisaki that in a second became a ball of fire and twisted metal.

"That's why you pull out faster you nut." Scolded Northampton to Portland as the ship keep on exploding in the distance, but then the sound of destruction was interrupted by a bunch of roars that seemed to eco and float around the sky, indicating the worst was yet to come.

"Destroyers incoming prepare to fire high explosive." Said Portland without losing her cool as her 3 turrets (2 to the side and over her shoulders and one on the right side of her waist like a revolver) turned and elevated themselves to fire at the incoming enemies.

"Where?! I can't see anything because my radar was shoot off while trying to rescue someone." Responded Northampton in a mix of irony and rage only she could produce.

"They are 1000 yards away in a group so tight there is no way you can miss it." Responded Portland a little annoyed but still way less hysterical than Northampton was.

"In that you are right you nut" Responded Northampton as her battered turrets turned slowly and elevated giving the same menacing a gangster would load a Tommy gun.

"FIRE!" Shouted the ship girls as their guns boomed simultaneously throwing high explosive at range. The first two salvos passed over the Kunisaki and exploded in the distance whit a big roar accompanying the detonation, but by the third salvo their targets became visible, their terrifying forms were silhouetted by the raging fires, the cruisers readjusted their guns and continued their volleys for a while dispatching many destroyers and even a few cruisers that tried advancing against them and got punished as a result, adding to such carnage the fire from the battleships (That now was precise) that also was tearing apart any Abyssal that were in the vicinity, the happy massacre grew and grew until there was a condensed mass of Abyssal been crushed by a rain of incoming shells that seemed almost constant.

"I would like to stay here but we don't have that much time remaining." Said Northampton as another salvo was dispatched from her guns, Portland nodded in agreement.

"Okay let's pick up this thing and let's get out." Said Portland as she turned to see the Abyssal that was their prisoner lying on the ocean, moving erratically in the water as if an invisible hand was padding her all across her body, to make the picture even more pathetic she was making weird noises again and her mound and nose were making bubbles in the process. The cruisers tried to move her and whit some success they got moving but before they could move a couple of feet away another giant blast threw them away even further than the first time. When they got up and turned to see what had hit them they saw it, a massive, powerful looking Abyssal that could only be an elite battleship of the Ta class was standing there, her eyes looking like windows to hell and her impressive looking rigging had her guns pointing directly at Portland and Northampton.

"LET'S GET OUT OF HERE BEFORE SHE GETS US." Screamed Northampton whit a tone that was rude even for her, she then got one final salvo out turned about and ran away at flank speed, Portland while a little unorthodox was not an idiot, she also got a last salvo against the group of destroyers and then began running away.

More shells came their way and only mad dogging and speed prevented them from receiving a direct hit that would have ended any of them right then and there, they got shaken by near misses more than once and at least Northampton began taking fire from enemies in front of her, not having the time to find another route she just began shutting at everything that moved, delivering way more damage than she took. Portland was a little luckier, finding little resistance that she dispatched easily, this allowed her to glance and see what had happened to the drunken Abyssal, she had gotten herself up and now was sailing all erratically waiving her hands in the air as if saluting the Abyssal ships that were moving closer to her, it would have been funny if the situation wasn't that bad, the crazy moving Abyssal got the attention of the Ta class battleship, she just stopped aiming at the two escaping Americans and concentrated on her pathetic comrade, she just stared at her for a moment, then another, and just as Portland was about to stop looking the battleship aimed and fired, the drunken and former prisoner was erased out of existence by catastrophic direct hit, she was just swallowed by a massive ball of fire and steam that once it settled down left no evidence of the thing that had been impacted, after that Portland stopped looking and just focused herself on getting out of there.

Somehow Portland reached the position of the rest of the American formation just before they left the area, they were still alive and while the Gridley sisters were no were to be seen they at least knew that they were also still alive and kicking helping the retreating Japanese girls some were to the north, whit some convincing Portland got the girls to wait until Northampton appeared out of the enemy lines, heavily damage but still firing at her opponent, Warrington got close to help her and Louisville, Honolulu and Portland provided fire support as the two ship girls got to the relatively safety of the formation, after that all of them made flank speed in the opposite direction as battleship shell keep falling down for a while until the enemy formation was dissolved and then stopped in its tracks, this was until the shells ceased their assault, their absence marking the end of the operation. The enemy took no time to regroup and to prepare to renew their assault, but by the time they were ready to keep on attacking the ship girls were long gone.

For all intentions and purposes the operation had been an almost complete failure, the preemptive fire from the battleships had been more or less ineffective, the light cruisers and destroyers had been completely repelled and the enemy counterattack had forced them out of the area whit their tails between their legs, the only real comfort was that no one had been sunk and many of the enemies had been sunk and chances were they were in no shape to detour another attack by a similar force but what to do whit all of that information was for the superiors to decide, all what Portland was thinking after they were under way to the base was all the information she had learned from her guest, the place, quantity, and even the forces defending a booty that sounded as the most promising thing that had come to her attention in this new live, even before Northampton told her about what their stupid commander was up to and about their transfer to Jakarta Portland was very interested in getting the money, and after receiving that information it became something written in stone, she was going TO TAKE THAT MONEY and noting in this world was going to change that.

 **Historical References.**

*On November 14 1943 while transporting president Roosevelt to the Tehran conference, the protecting ships made some maneuvers to delight the president that was sailing onboard USS Iowa, while doing the maneuvers the destroyers made a simulated torpedo attack using Iowa as a target, one of this destroyers was the William D. Porter, that while doing the simulated attack accidently launched an armed torpedo against Iowa, the battleship maneuvered and the torpedo passed behind her, all the while Roosevelt was on deck watching the whole thing. After such a blonder the destroyer was expelled from the convoy and returned to base were some sources say all the crew was arrested. (By the way if you want a good laugh search more about this destroyer, her service record reads like a war movie made by the guys responsible for the movie Airplane)

*Maya was sunk by a submarine on October 22 1944, making her miss the majority of the operations that took place during the battle of Leyte Gulf, the biggest naval battle in modern history.

*Goldplaters was the nickname given to the new destroyers built in the 1930's by the US navy, the name coming from the fact that the ship had better capabilities and crew accommodation than the older four stackers that were built shortly after the Great War.

*Great White Fleet was the nickname given to the squadron of American battleships that sailed around the world between charismas 1907 and winter 1909, the name came from the fact that many of the ships involved in this had their hulls painted white and their superstructures in golden yellow.

*Northampton was involved in many operations whit Enterprise and Hornet during 1942, from the raids against Japanese bases in February, to protecting both of them during the Doolittle raids and at Midway, finally she escorted Hornet during the battle of Santa Cruz on October, trying to tow her once she became immobilized but having to desist once the Japanese launched another attack. So in short, if these carriers were around, Northampton was near.

*The battle of the Paracel Island occured on the 19 of Jenuary 1974 when a flotilla of South Vietnamese ships attempted to gain control of the archipelago by landing troops on moust of the islands. This operation was oppoused by Chanese forces that were compused by four minesweepers and two submarine chasers. The battle turned out to be a dissater for the South Vietnamese as they lost one corvette and were forced out of the area, on the other hand the Chanese lost no ships and to this day retain control of the islands.

 **Kancolle Reference**

*I am talking about the squadron that appears on the manga Kancolle 4 Koma Fubuki Ganbariamasu chapter 53.

 **AN:** And that would be all for this chapter, it was very fun to write and I hope it is as fun to read, so please review or comment and take of your selves and see you soon.


	2. Setting up the plan part 1

**PORTLAND'S HEROES**

 **AN:** So I am very new at this of making fanfictions but so far this one is the best received one, special thanks to the users Invisible Man 19 and Dianherdianto, 1twright12 and Sr. Caco for been the among the first ones to like, follow and review this story of mine, I really appreciate that guys and I hope you like the chapters that follow =)

As for this chapter I intended this to cover everything from them arriving at the base to their departure to find the money but seen how it was already 9k plus words I decided to divided it in two, I will do my best to post the next chapter as soon as possible but unless the math and physics teachers decide to give up school is going to keep my busy, so sorry for that, is just how live goes.

Whit that out of the way and adding that I only own the OC's lest begging.

 **Chapter Two**

 **Setting up the plan part 1**

It was still some time before dawn when the shipgirls came back from the miserable mission they had just suffered through and they wasted no time in discovering how hard they had been hit, most destroyers were on the repair docks and out of the 6 light cruisers that took part 4 had to be given instant repair buckets to save them from any permanent damage, the battleships had it a lot better but the Fosou sisters had suffered damage when a heavy cruiser had survived their volleys and had put a torpedo into each, granted the Abyssal hadn't live long after that as Ise and Musashi had put their full broadsides into the thing, but still, the unlucky tea ceremonies were suspended for the near future.

Whit a large part of the fleet been broken or tired the base was unusually empty throughout the morning and until midday, the only movement coming from the girls that had to go out to patrol or from others that were already planning the next operation to destroy the enemy out post once and for all. Whit so little activity going on anyone how had cared to pay attention would have noticed the strangely foreign figure that was making her way to the battleship dormitory at around the same time Naka would had started a live performance, the figure wore an officer uniform from the US navy that was missing the two lines of buttons on the jacket that were in the original design giving it a more casual look than anyone would have anticipated, and also missing was the black and white cap that would normally be clothed alongside the uniform, this having the consequence of exposing the disorganized and short black hair of the girl in question. This strange yet familiar figure went by across the base whit a dead serious look all the time only relaxing her expression once she arrived at her destination, the battleship dormitory in all its extravagant glory that not only contrasted heavily whit the accommodations for the girls back at the States but also whit how few resources the Japanese actually had to maintain the fleet up and running, priorities was the best explanation but was still ridiculous.

"For the last time Iowa, the terrible gunnery last night was your entire fault, if you had done it as I told you the operation would have gone much better."

"If anything it was because of you confusing her and her own lack of spine that the gunnery was so bad."

"Shut up! Is because off all of you that everything went so wrong!"

"Jesus lady, act like a matured shipgirl and admit it was your fault already."

"But…You can't… I was doing as Nagato told me to do and it's because of you three that I screwed up!"

That was the nagging and tantrums that came from the building in distinctive accents that let no doubts about who was inside, just as Portland needed, without hesitating the American heavy cruiser entered the building and began searching the room from where all the commotion was coming, something that took no effort at all because the discussion grew lauder and lauder by the second, so by the time she arrived it sounded like a protest or a fight was happening inside, considering the participants included Bismarck and Roma that would had prevented most girls from even coming close to the building, let alone the room, not Portland however. Whit a firm grip on the on the door's lock she just turned it and whit a swift move opened the door that crashed into the wall whit a sudden "thump" that made all the screaming and arguing stop on that very instant, for a moment Portland just stud on the door's frame taking the in the scene she had just interrupted, on the middle of all sitting on a bed was Iowa whit her face red whit anger but whit an expression of surprise, that last one probably coming from the sudden meddling, in a similar situation was Bismarck that up to a few seconds ago was arguing intensely whit Iowa but now was staring at Portland, her head turned towards the cruiser but her body still leaning towards Iowa giving her the most lewd of poses that would had probably made her mad if she had noticed, to the right of Bismarck and in a much better position was Roma that was also staring at Portland but showed much less surprise, as if she was anticipating the interference of another ship but hadn't expected Portland to be the one that showed up, finally there was Warspite that was way back of the room sitting on a chair whit a tea cup on her hands, unlike her companions she seemed rather annoyed by the interference, that was probably the reason why she spoke first.

"Hey look, another cowboy arrived on town." She said half joking half making sure Portland knew her intromission wasn't welcome, in response Portland just drilled the Brit whit her eyes for a few seconds before she moved her shoulders backwards as if getting comfortable on the chair and then took a sip of her tea without saying anything else, not admitting defeat but clearly indicating her intimation had failed, after that was over Portland glanced again at Roma and Bismarck that were now completely serious and paying her full attention, by that point Iowa was completely pale and it was clear she didn't like Portland's sudden appearance and would prefer to endure the scolding of the foreign ships for hours rather than to talk to Portland even one minute, but like or not Portland had to talk to her and that was going to happen one way or another.

"Good morning ladies, I am glad to see you in good shape after last night" Said Portland whit her characteristic drawl "I am sorry to interrupt your little meeting but there is something very important I have to discuss whit my compatriot here and I don't have the time to postpone it, so would you please give me 5 minutes and then all of you can resume your talk about yesterday's battle." Roma and Bismarck stared at each and then turned back to see the American cruiser in all its weirdness, like always it was impossible to detect if she was making fun of them or if she was one hundred percent serious, both of them had gotten mad over this doubt but instead of responding directly or arguing back Portland just turned around and leaved them to scream at the wall rather than her, because of that the only logical explanation was that Portland really talked in such cryptic way, made sense but it didn't prevent the experience from been confusing as hell for the two Axis battleships, for Warspite it was just annoying and to make it very clear she again was the first to talk.

"Okay you mad girl, you can talk whit her as long as you want, I am sure you can talk more sense into her anyway." She said looking at Iowa that gulped in response, the comment also had the effect of snapping Bismarck and Roma out of their trance and making them actually respond.

"Sure Yank, you can do as you please whit her, juts try to don't make to much noise or you will cause some commotion around here." Said Bismarck as she organized her hair and began walking towards the door.

" _sigh._ It can't be helped then, just make sure she knows how to aim well when you are finish." Said Roma in a passive aggressive way that got Iowa to squeal and shrug at the same time, she then joined Bismarck in her march towards the door, Warspite despite been the first one to agree was the last one to get up and to joint her companions on their way out, when she was finally out on the corridor (giving Portland a last annoyed glance as she exited) Portland pushed the door whit one of her feet and as loudly as it had open it slammed close, leaving only the serious looking cruiser and the terrified fast battleship inside, Portland was about to say something but before she could Iowa began talking in a very frantic somewhat frighten way.

"Portland please I can explain it, you see I was going to aim the way I always do it whit my radar but Roma began saying something along the lines of ' _You Americans always so dependent on technology to do the job, if you really want to be accurate you should correct the aim by seen were the shells land'_ So I began doing that instead but when the shell started landing outside the target area she began mentioning the enemy's gun flashes and all the explosions of my own shell and all this confusing jargon that made my really angry and confused so I began arguing whit her about it but that only made her mad all the sudden and instead of helping Bismarck began saying that I lacked spine for been unable to restrain my own troops and Warspite began saying that I was very uncivilized for arguing like that and it just keep going this way until Northampton called and sounded like she was wanted all of us sunk, hell, she even told me that she was gonna call Willy D and make sure her torpedoes were aim this time.* And why is everyone blaming me anyway!? Just because I was in command of the damn thing, but as far as anyone could tell all of those jerks were aiming as badly as I was, or perhaps I was the only one hitting the target! Yeah, if those bitches were so occupied whit screaming at my there was no way they were aiming to well! How could anyone know? A shell splash is a shell splash and an explosion is an explosion and there is no way of telling from how it came from" She screamed culminating the sudden crescendo that had develop on her speech, she had clearly gotten very angry and if any of the three foreign ships had been inside the room she would had provably challenged them to a gun duel on that very moment, but then she suddenly snapped out of it and whit all the rage gone from her face she resuming talking but in a much different tone that was more desperate than anything. "So please tell Nora I am sorry, it wasn't my fault and I will compensate her for all the problems that it caused her and… and" The poor girl was sobbing now and while it was depressing to see it finally gave Portland the opportunity to calm her down. She leaned forward and put booth of her hands on Iowa's shoulders, and then Portland looked at Iowa and her watery eyes and whit a voice that sounded dominant but comforting she finally began speaking.

"Look Iowa I am not here to criticize you for the fiasco from last night, you have probably hear about that for hours now. Nor I am here on behalf of Northampton to give you some menacing message; all I am here for is to ask you for a favor." Iowa nodded and cleaned the tears on her face whit her sleeve, after that her mood had clearly change and she was much more controlled now.

"What kind of favor? The kind that makes things better? Or the kind that lands the ones involved in jail?" She said joking, expecting Portland to at least smile, but the cruiser didn't and in fact she got even more serious and her response left no doubt that whatever it was she was going to ask it was very important.

"It's from the kind that if revealed to everyone it puts a lot of people in a lot of trouble, but keep a secret it makes everyone happy." That got Iowa's attention on an instant, making her super serious all the sudden.

"Well then, what is it?" Asked the fast battleship and putting a little grin on Portland's face, she then searched on her coat and extracted a folded map and began opening it midair and when it was more or less unfolded she put it on Iowa's legs, then she began explaining.

"While it is still to earlier to have all the details I have manage to confirm that in two days, probably at night, we are going to attack the same outpost from before but instead of having several destroyers flotillas on the vanguard while the heavy guns sit on the background this time they are going to have some battleships leading the way supported by heavy cruisers and destroyers, the details still escapes me but what is been talked about is a pincer move that is going to destroy the majority of their forces and a central force that is going to mop up what remains of them. It is at around this point that you and I enter, after the pincer attack begins but before the central force advances I need you to lay a barrage at around here." She said pointing at a place of the enemy enclave that was a little to the south of the channel were she had been last night "That way I and the rest of the squadron can get past their forces without having to content whit them while also having a more or less a clear pat until we reach the vicinity of the island of Luzon, it isn't perfect but at least it gives a head start that will be very useful." Iowa was pondering as Portland removed the map and put it back on her jacket.

"Okay all of this sounds… Somewhat reasonable, I mean, you and your task force are going to be out of here from what I hear so there is little time to do this, but if you have an authorization from the American and Japanese for all of this then is perfectly fine by my…" It was at that point that Portland raised her right hand to silence Iowa and when she had the word she spoke.

"You see Iowa, the thing is that I don't have an authorization for all of this." That sentence made Iowa arch an eyebrow.

"So you want to sail without authorization to a place beyond the Philippines so you can do God knows what over there and also you want me involved, so tell me, what is in this for me?" Portland smiled and as she reached for the pocket on her pants as she said "There is this for you." Then she pulled a roll of cash and paraded it in front of Iowa's eyes that went wide whit emotion, she was sparkling all the sudden and in the time it Portland to blink Iowa took the money from her hands and began laughing like a child that had just received a new toy.

"Oh boy, Oh boy this is amazing! From where did you get this, from where we can get more?!"

"Shhhh. Be quiet, I don't want the entire base to found out about this." Reprehended Portland whispering, getting Iowa to calm down and to pay attention.

"It is from a yacht that some fat cat from Brunei was using to escape before he got caught by the Abyssal, now, I don't know how much a Bruneian dollars cost when compared whit the American dollar but I do know that there are 21 million Bruneian dollars just sitting on a semi sunken yacht waiting to be taken by someone, and that someone is going to be us. The plan I have is bullet proof if executed correctly and will make my task force very rich, and all you have to do in order to get an equal share is to put shells on the position I told you so we can sneak by." She stated coldly and matter-of-factly, her voice low but very authoritarian. "So my dear battleship, are you in? Or out?"

Iowa was silence for a moment, her eyes going slowly back and forward between the roll of money and Portland's face, she was clearly conflicted about the whole thing, but then again what was she to do? It was a comrade in arms that was asking her a rather simple favor but at the same illegal, but if they weren't caught then the recompense was worth the risk. All of this crossed her mind but at the end the decision came down to this, one of the most serious cruisers in the fleet was offering her money whit a roll of it as prove that she was dead serious, that HAD to go right no matter what.

"Okay" She finally said, her voice a little shaky at first "You can count me in on this plan of yours; I just hope that everything goes well."

"Don't worry about it miss, I am planning every detail of this and I am going to make sure it is a complete success." Responded Portland turning away and going for the door, when she was about to exit the room she turned her heat one last time and said "Just do as I told you, is it clear?" Iowa nodded and whit that taken care of Portland turned knob and exited the room.

On the outside there was little activity, for a moment Portland had been worried about Iowa's volume attracting some unwelcome attention but judging by the fact that Bismarck, Roma and Warspite were talking among each other at the left far end of the corridor that hadn't been the case. Whit a satisfied grin on her ice cold face Portland was about to go away by the right side of the corridor when all the sudden from that same side, something seriously annoying came into view, it was a group of four of which two (Kirishima and Mutsuki) were reasonably endurable, but the other two were Hiei and Yudachi and that absolutely was not fine at all*. The grin on Portland's face disappeared and was replaced by the mother of all angry faces as her eyes drilled on the two of them as if trying to found and absorb their souls, Yudachi and Hiei were unaware of this for a few seconds until Hiei raised her head and her eyes and was met whit the horrible figure of an American heavy cruiser staring at her whit the eyes of an killer, the fast battleship froze in place only realizing her trade mark high pitch "Hieee" as a response to what was happening, Yudashi was confused when the person she was talking transformed into the incarnation of fear but when she turned and saw the devilish figure staring at her and she screamed "POI!" and jumped behind Hiei and hided in there poking out to see if the dangerous American did something else; the face of, or rather the scare off lasted for about 10 seconds during which the Japanese were shaking from heat to tow and were unable to move away from what they perceived as clear and present danger, as for Kirishima and Shigure they were just looking and the situation as if to imply _"What the hell we do now?"_ but before they could figure out something Portland took the initiative and took just one, a solitary and threatening step towards, and all hell broke loose, Yudachi screamed and jumped over Hiei and hanged from her throat, Hiei jumped backwards and without doing anything else but shrill she turned around and began running in the opposite direction as fast as she could.

"Hiei wait! Come back! Dammed it happens every time she sees that yank." Cursed Kirishima as she began running away trying to catch her sister, Mutsuki was left alone for a few seconds as she tried to figure out what on earth had happened, after she saw a more relaxed but still scary Portland still standing there she decided that her place to be was somewhere else and go away in the opposite direction, when she was out of sight Portland finally sighted and after organizing her jacket she walked away on the same direction everyone had gone, her steps slow but very firm as they always were. Behind her were left Bismarck, Roma and Warspite that had gone unnoticed during the incident but had seen it all.

"I just wonder if she has any corpses on her closet." Asked Wasrpite sipping the last of her tea after she did so.

"Probably not, but she certainly acts like she has one or two, that way of speaking and that abrasive side she has gives her this villainous aura that is directly from a western movie or something." Said Bismarck sobbing her chin.

"One thing is for certain, you don't mess whit that girl and if you already did be ready to suffer the consequences." Added Roma receiving nod from the other two battleships.

"Northampton on the other hand, is a whole different beast all together." Said Bismarck whit irony making Warspite roll her eyes and Roma to grunt.

 **Well after lunch in another place.**

Once mid day passed by the base slowly began to return to normal as girls exited the repair yards one by one, whit some searching for their groups of friend and then talked amongst each other, others were going to Mamiya's place and eat to their heart content, and other were just relaxing or sleeping at their quarters trying to get as much rest as possible before something else happened. Doing all of this and yet non at the same time were the majority of the American task force, they were sitting on one of the yards of the base just chilling out after getting repaired during all of the dawn and morning and part of the afternoon, as they sat there taking in the sun the dynamics of the group were at full play for everyone to see and be amused by, Bagley was mocking Jarvis ceaselessly and as a result the leader of the destroyer squadron 17 was grumbling and arguing whit her subordinate the same way sisters did about who deserved the last chocolate bard, Helm was trying to calm them down but each time she interfered either Jarvis would shut up her up or Bagley would tell her that she was just joking that she should relax a little, ignoring this completely was Blue that had dedicated all her attention to sleeping next to Warrington that was quietly reading a copy of 'Destroyer Men Into the Storm' one of her favorite books that keep her from standing up and strangling booth Bagley and Jarvis, by contrast Gridley, Craven, McCall and Maury were just minding their own business without annoying anyone but been annoyed by Louisville that keep playing whit Craven's pony tails.

"Hey you jerk quit it already!" Cried out loud the destroyer as she pulled away just as Louisville had neglected to keep her tails fastened.

"Come on just chill a little and have fun whit me"

"I won't, so find something else to have fun whit because I am not a toy" Rebutted Craven as she reorganized her hair as if to brag about her independence, but instead of interpreting this as ' _I am not at your disposal asshole'_ the heavy cruiser found a way to miss or ignore the message.

"I love how she thinks she is Portland." Said Louisville whit a big smile on her face and making the destroyer red on the face.

"Leave her alone you idiot, she is a proud destroyer so treat her like that" Intervened Gridley in defense of her sister.

"After all she is the proud owner of 9 battle and you really should remember that when you talk to her." Louisville's smile disappeared from her face as she began to frown.

"Hey, now you want her to be like that Jap Fubuki, acting all like _I am proud of doing all I could jay!"_ If she starts acting the same way then whit who I am supposed to play whit?"

"How about you play whit yourself and dress up like a normal lady you exhibitionist" Protested irritated Northampton getting the attention of all three of them and making Louisville smile again, she just never missed an opportunity like this.

"You are only jealous that my breasts are WAYYY bigger than yours that are barely a thing, I mean, do you even have them?" Teased her big sister Louisville as she made her melons giggle, ironically drawing attention the fact that she only had a small towel over them, that she also had the smallest panties in existence on didn't help her cause either.

"Just put on this shirt you nut" ordered Northampton as she threw a shirt over her sister's face that just took it and threw it away. Just then one of the missing members of the unit made her appearance, it was Honolulu, and for the love of Neptune she looked ridiculous, she had her usual green shirt wrapped up around her head whit her hair flowing all over the place giving the impression she was carrying a plant pot whit a very bad grass inside, outside of that she was wearing a white bra, blue shorts and sandals, at least no one could accuse her of locking boring.

"Hey Nora you have a letter from high command." Said Honolulu as she handed over a folded piece of paper to Northampton.

"What does it say's?" Asked Northampton clearly not to thrill about having to work at that time.

"It says you have to read it." Insisted Honolulu as she got the letter even closer to Northampton's face, grunting at first but giving up she extended her right hand and took the letter, she was about to begging reading but a quick glance at her friend gave her another priority that she just had to attend.

"Organize your clothes; you look like one of those wackos that served in Vietnam." Declared Northampton as she began sitting and reading, Honolulu nodded and went to set alongside sit besides Warrington and Blue that was somehow still sleeping.

"Hey, what's in the letter?" Asked Warrington finally finding something interesting other than her book.

"It's the official order telling us to pull out of here and to go to Jakarta." Responded Honolulu as she began putting her shirt on "It is signed by our commander in Pearl, the pervert from here and as a final screw you to us Nagato also signed the damn thing, can you believe it ?! Flag ships never do this kind of paper work and yet she is like _'let's make sure they understand that the exit is over there"_ Said Honolulu outraged by the supposed act of humiliation, Warrington on the other hand wasn't that sold on that.

"So Nagato Signed instead of Yodo or not signing at all, what is the big deal over that? Is just bureaucratic nonsense that refuses to die even after it causes mayor blunders in all wars." Answered Warrington in her usual grounded way "And even if she was doing it to add salt to the injury, are you really surprised about it? Whit you been the only normal cruiser of the group and the Bagley sisters been a pain in the ass I am astonished all she has done to us is some disciplinary actions here and there, you know that we had done enough things deserve execution long ago." Honolulu reflected about this for a few seconds before she agreed, they were in fact a pain to deal whit and could consider themselves lucky that the Japs didn't kick them out the second they entered the base.

"Okay ladies it's now official that everyone wants us out of here so dress up and up out on the double!" Barked Northampton putting everyone on attention and awakening poor Blue that more or less was scared into consciousness by the screaming and the sudden movement.

"Hey you ass hat was it really necessary to awoke a kid from its sleep?" Said Blue, pausing for a moment to let a big yawn escape her "Besides we still have some time so let me sleep." She concluded at the same time she accommodated herself on Warrington's thigh, a position she lasted in for a full 2 seconds as Northampton screamed a response.

"You nut I don't know why are so bloody lazy but I swear to Jesus one day I will solve that problem once and for all."

"Your right sister we need to solve immediately! What's more I already have a suggestion; maybe you should let her sleep all she wants so she has energy…" Louisville joke was cut short by a solid blow to heat courtesy of her sister, the happy go lucky heavy cruiser just folded over and let escape all her breath at once making her sound like a flattened tire, all the while the rear of her head began to ache slowly but surely.

"You are not fun sis" whispered Louisville making Northampton snarl. After that show was over whit all of them began picking up their things and Warrington organized them to go to their quarters, Northampton was about to help them when she saw someone else was approaching, she walked over the person and intercepted her a fair distance away from the rest of the group.

"So Portland, what have you been up to all day? I was beginning to think that you were missing in action or something." Portland just nodded at the statement as if it wasn't intended for her; she was still wearing her full uniform and was carrying around a few maps that were on her left hand.

"Well, I was just getting the details I needed to get my plan up and going, it was hard at first since out of all the people in the meetings the only one that would talk to me was Yamato andshe was supervised by her sister, but eventually Musashi was called to another meeting and so she was able to tell my their plans." She paused for a moment to wait for Northampton's response but when nothing came she proceeded "The idea is to have northern and southern force composed by 2 of the Kongou sisters, 3 heavy cruisers and 6 destroyers each, then to have this groups engage whit the enemy forces and tear them up, dividing them and making it impossible for them to resist the center force composed by Nagato, Mutsu, Musashi and Yamato, alongside 4 heavy cruisers and 10 destroyers that has as its mission to destroy whatever remains of the Abyssal by that point, and finally there is going to be constant fire support from the foreign fast battleships and air support from a group of fleet carriers whose composition is yet to be determined but I don't really care about that, all I care about is the fire support group and the window of opportunity between the initial attack and the intervention from the center force and believe me when I tell you I have all of that figured out, the only thing really missing are the supplies but I am sure I can get that whiteout problems." Northampton was silent for a few seconds, just staring at her friend that had gained a small smile after she had ended her speech, she knew Portland well enough to tell she was dead serious about getting the money and that if she was saying that everything was figured out there was more than a 90 percent chance the details were really figured out, but even if someone as trustworthy as Portland was at the helm the plan was still bad shit insane, to break through a heavily defended enemy outpost to then sail several hundred miles to the south deep into enemy territory to then steal something as mundane as money, that kind of madness belonged to an old style Hollywood production or more probably to one of those weird animes the Japs were so intended on liking, and all of that was ignoring the mere fact that that the plan was suicidal from the beginning.

"Look Portland I know what you are planning and while I am fine whit you basically committing suicide by enemy action if you even try to get the other girls into this mess of yours I am going to make sure you end up freezing away in Alaska or rotting away in Angola and believe me when I tell you, you are going to want to go to Jakarta when you are in those hell places, and the reason I would make you go there is because the same way you are sure about all of this I am sure I want to make sure every single one of them makes through this war alive." Portland turned her face and sighted, her friend was been reasonable but was missing the point, she wanted to get the money yes, not because she was just a greedy person but because something that rewarding was hard to come by for the disgraced task force that had been formed from runagates from other squadrons and that had ended in this land so hated to them because the navy didn't want to lose more adequate squadrons, and when the navy finally had enough ships to put some good ships in the hands of the Japanese the lackluster ships that Portland called comrades were reassigned to another base that ranked near the bottom on accommodations and strategic importance, so in the end it was take the money or continue been miserable without the plus side of been rich.

"Well me dear friend." Said Portland raising her voice and putting her gaze back on Northampton "I recommend you begging making the paper work because not only I'm going but I am also taking this good girl's whit me liked or not." All Northampton did was sigh, liked or not Portland was going to see this plan came into fruition.

"Very well you nut, have fun joining Poseidon at the bottom of the sea." Portland didn't respond to this and just turned to the right in the direction of the supply depots of the base, ready to make put the last elements of her plan in place, Northampton just grunted and turned around, she would deal whit Portland latter, for now she had to make sure her subordinates made it to their dormitory without blowing up Taiho* or something.

"Very well ladies make sure you have everything whit you and get moving." There was a collective okay as all of them put on their clothes and accessories on, no one was particularly thrilled but at least they were following orders; as they were about to get under way Northampton remembered that there was still one member of the group that hadn't shown up during the entirety of the day, not that she was liked but a missing member was a missing member.

"Hey Warrington where the hell is Salt Lake?" Warrington faced Northampton and answered by shrugging. "No idea Nora I was actually wondering the same thing, last I heard she was missing in action and that was this morning just when we arrived." This made Northampton happy to the point where she had a smile from ear to ear and had puffed up her chest.

"HAHA so that punk ass got killed because of her stupid greed, I knew there was karma on this messed up world!..." screamed Northampton whit an unusual amount of emotion on her voice, she was like a child in charismas and was so happy no one really had memory of seen her like that.

"Actually Nora I heard another thing like two hours ago…" Began Helm whit a timid voice just as Northampton was raising her hands in a victory pose, she stopped and her hands dropped to her waist as if they had been deflated, then whit all her emotion gone she faced Helm and whit an evil tone she asked.

"What the hell did you hear Helm?" Scared out of her mind Helm sobbed and then managed to more or less tell her story.

"Emmm, so I was still been repaired and Miyuki was by my right side… and out of nowhere came Shigure and told her that the silly American commander was asking for help loading a sailboat that she had salvaged the night before… Miyuki responded something along the line of 'let that idiot break her own spine' but Shigure been such a sweet heart insisted that if a ship girl needed help it was the responsibility of other ship girls to help, because you know, she is a good person unlike some of us." The comment was aimed at Bagley but all she did was turn around and cross her harms "In any case Miyuki agreed on the bases that she needed some exercise and both of them went to the docks… SO PLEASE DON'T KILL ME NORA I'M JUST TELLING YOU." Ended the Helm making a fetal position while she was at it, Northampton's face was red by that point and she looked ready to decapitate anything on sight.

"Don't worry Helm I am not going to do anything to you." Whispered Northampton in a menacing way "But the one I am going to kill is the stupid ship that takes advantage of the few decent Japs in this stupid base!" She concluded whit a sudden raise of voice and stumping the ground whit a tremendous force making everyone take one step back.

"Oh my, oh my I really made her mad this time." Muttered Helm to herself as the raging heavy cruiser began walking towards the docks whit an incredible force in each step.

"This is going to be pretty bad." Sighted Warrington as she face palmed.

"You mean this is going to be awesome! Hey Gridley brig some popcorn we are gonna need it." Said Bagley all blissful all the sudden.

"And miss the spectacle? No way." Said Gridley already following Northampton, soon after everyone was doing the same, all curious about what was going to happen.

 **On the ducks a few minutes later.**

On the docks there were only a few people around, whit most just passing by without doing anything other than walk, the only ones actually doing something were Miyuki and Shigure, that even after an hour of moving boxes they were still loading some supplies into a sailboat that somehow had gone though the inferno of the night before whit only one hole on its hull and that was above the water line, proving that great things could happen to bad people.

"Who knew that this girl would have more luck than you Shigure." Said Miyuki whit a playful smile on her face, putting down the box she was carrying, Shigure returned the smile and nodded.

"Well I wouldn't call her lucky in the same conventional sense but more like she is immune to bad things." Miyuki raised an eyebrow in response to this.

"Isn't that the same as luck?" Shigure pondered about how she could get her point across in batter way.

"Let's put it this way, if she does something wrong and doesn't get scolded by the admiral is because she has connection whit him and its counterpart in the U.S, if you do the same mistake and you also don't get scolded is because sheer luck, do you understand now?"

Miyuki face shined in excitement and she nodded energetically. "Oh I get it now! So if you had an advantage it isn't the same as simple fortune."

"Yeah exactly that's what I am saying."

"Girls less talking and more working." Demanded all the sudden Salt Lake from inside the Sailboat.

"Yes senpai we are working on it." Said Shigure and the two of then returned to moving boxes, the silent lasted little however as Miyuki again vented out another doubt she had.

"And what connection does she had whit the admirals?"

"As far as I know her connection whit the American Admiral is very simple, his father served onboard her during her previous live and so he spoils her despite of" Shigure paused and got closer to Miyuki so she was sure Salt Lake couldn't hear them "You know, her not being that great at her job"

"I guess it makes sense." Said Miyuki "But how is she connected to our admiral? There must be a story behind that."

"And that's the case; in fact there are two stories, the boring one and the interesting one, which one do you want to hear firs." Questioned Shigure whit a little grin on her cute face.

"First tell me the boring one and then you hit me whit the good one okay?" Shigure's grin turned into a smile, it was never a boring day when Miyuki was around.

"Agree, so here are the stories, so the boring one is that the admiral has some family at the actual city of Salt Lake so because of this emotional connection he goes soft on her. And the interesting version is that many years ago a banker cheated the family of the admiral out of a lot of money, when the war began that banker enlisted in the navy and served onboard Maya-Senpai until he got killed in a battle were Maya engaged Salt Lake* That way avenging the family of the Admiral."

"Really! That is amazing, just imagine something like that…" Miyuki stoed all the sudden and her expression turned bitter as she detected something approaching.

"Oh oh, look who's here." She pointed towards the corridor between two depot buildings and sure enough Northampton was approaching like and she looked more like a bull than usual, her face displaying a level of anger no one else could master.

"Crap she sure looks angry and its coming this way, quick let's get out here, but not to far away because I want to see want happens." Miyuki grabbed Shigure by her left wrist and dragged her to a pile of boxes nearby, they discovered a space between the boxes and they began spying what was about to happen whit all the interest they could master.

"Look she has arrived."

Northampton was standing in front of the Sailboat seen it whit all her distain, the fact that the stupid cruiser had somehow brought that ship to the base without suiting showed there was a clear unbalance in the universe, how it was even possible? That was up to discussion but at the moment the priority was to scream some sense into Salt's block head.

"Hey jackass, what the fuck are you doing?" She screamed kicking one of the boxes in the process, the thing flew on into the sea as if its contents didn't weight at all, but despite the commotion there was no response at all.

"Hey Salt Lake I know you are there so come out!" She screamed again kicking another box that this time hit the mast of the sailboat spilling its contents all over deck, that actually made Salt Lake City to show up from below decks, it was like a bad impression of a cartoon because she poked out her head slowly and turned it from left to right as if she was searching for the responsible of the disturbance, then she lay her eyes on Northampton's angry eyes, then she forced the most plastic smile in history and began talking in a condescending tone.

"Oh hello Northampton nice to see you here, would you please pass me that last box that is over there." She pointed to a box full of fuel that was very close to Northampton that responded in the simplest way possible, by kicking the box to the side and throwing the cans of fuel all over the place.

"I am not some stupid girl that you can take advantage of so you don't have to do any work, if you want these boxes on that ship of yours then do it yourself!" She then kicked the last box that was near her sending it crashing against the hull of the sailboat and then towards the water, by that point Salt's plastic smile had turned into a disgusting grin that indicated she was angry at Northampton's display, but instead of screaming in response she just turned her condensation up to eleven.

"Okay dear you just need to calm down and count up ten, and then we can talk like normal persons do." Northampton face was red whit anger but she remained silent long enough for Salt Lake to continue talking " In any case since you were interested enough to come here I will tell you about what is happening, as you already know you are going to be transferred to Jakarta in one week, until then its official that Nagato has ordered you to remain at your quarters until you report to New Jersey in four days, until then I want you to keep calm and don't cause any trouble, as for me I am taking this fine ship to Tokyo were I am going to talk to some of the high command in there, so see ya" whit that Salt Lake made her unexpected move, she moved to the bow of the ship and in a single action untied the lines that keep the sail boat close to the pier and then and returned to the stern of the ship and started to little engine of the boat that slowly began moving away.

"Hey what are you doing!? Come back!" Demanded Northampton but it was too late, Salt just moved the ship away and if she heard Northampton she didn't show it, the only other thing she said before she was to far away was a rather strange non sequitur.

"And remember looting is punished by dead!"

"Loot what!? There is nothing to loot in here, or what do you think, that I like Kako's and whatever the hell her sister is called aquariums so much I would steal them?!* And come back you nut!" But Salt didn't come back, she just waved one hand and steered the sailboat out of the harbor, all the while Northampton keep screamed at her futilely trying to get her attention, by that point not only had the rest of the group reached the area but all the persons that were near the pier were now standing nearby in total amazement as the spectacle as it unfolded, even Shigure and Miyuki had come out of hiding and were now standing near the rest of the American group.

"You guys are kind of amazing, how a unit whit so much crazy in it can be combat effective is something I will never understand." Said Miyuki to Gridley and McCall that were the closes to her,

"You see, this is the American way." Joked McCall in a sassy tone that failed to be funny at all whit only reactions been Miyuki's and Shigure's confused faces, Gridley chuckled at this.

"To be honest I also have no idea how we get through any operation without getting kill, but for the love of God you have to admit that something like _her_ is a terror on the battlefield." She said pointing at Northampton that was still screaming at the disappearing sailboat.

"You are right about that." Admitted Miyuki "But you have to admit that most of you are totally and completely out of your minds."

"Okay I will give you that." Admitted Gridley "If you admit that we are the most determined girls in all the seven seas." Miyuki's smile reappeared on her face and whit friendly tone she responded "HA ha-ha-ha I will give that Yankee when you conquer the Java sea, wish you luck in there!"

"Thanks you we will do our best." Said Gridley raising her thumps and giving back the smile, it was good to have at least one functional relation at the base.

"Don't you mean you wish Jakarta luck? Because if Northampton doesn't calm down she is going to burn the whole city down." Interrupted McCall getting everyone's attention back to Northampton that was culminating her rant by getting on her knees and screaming at the top her lungs.

"DANM YOU SALT. DAMN YOU TO HELL! _Sob"_ And after that final outburst she just laid down on the ground and began crying like a child, the idiotism of Salt Lake finally been to much for her.

"Hey Warrington, what do we do now?" Asked Honolulu.

"No idea is the first time I have seen her like this, maybe you can console her?"

Me? No way! Don't you remember when I tried to hug her after the attack on that battleship prices a few weeks ago, she hit me in the got, and she was happy at that moment! If I get close to her at this moment she will tear me apart on a second." Responded Honolulu in a panicky way.

"Okay then I'll do it." Said Gridley stepping forward and kneeling besides Nora and began caressing her head whit all the delicacy she could muster.

"Thanks you _sob"_ murmured Northampton extending her hand and hugging Gridley by the waist.

"You're welcome ma'am you know you can count whit me in any case you may need me." Responded Gridley using a maternal voice, something that made the situation all the more ridiculous.

"So tell me McCall." Spoke Shigure for the first time.

"Yes?" Answered the named destroyer.

"If your superiors are mad like a hatter and most of your destroyers are also a little different let's say, how does your squadron works?" McCall smiled and shrugged.

"What can I say except welcome to Merica's navy, the number one shit show ever to grace the pacific."

 **After the show was over, at the American dormitory.**

30 Minutes or so after Salt Lake sailed away (No pond intended) all the members of the squadron minus Portland were standing in front of their quarters in one of the most remote parts of the base, they originally slept whit everyone else but as a result of several incidents that included (but not limited to) Arashi making Maury cry during the day and been scared of Craven during the night* Jintsu not liking Honolulu and vice versa* and Northampton getting into a fight whit everyone in the cruiser dormitory, they had been exiled to a point so far the closes dormitory was a five minute walk.

"Okay girls there are a few things that that call for some addressing so listen up because I won't repeat it!" Barked Northampton at the line of Americans that was organized from the tallest that was Louisville to the smallest that McCall, Nora was back to been her usual authoritarian way, she had recovered remarkably well after Gridley padded her for a few minutes.

"First of all and as you all probably know our time outside the base, the time we lobbied so hard to get WITHOUT SALT'S HELP! Has been revoked, so we are going to stay here until Jersey decides to show up and lets us go. Second, despite the fact that I am also enrage by this situation I will not tolerate any comments about wanting to see Nagato and Salt Lake City get nuked again*, or wanting to rob all the ice-cream on Mamiya place, or any desires to sacrifice Yukikaze to restore the balance of luck in the universe or any other creative crap you nut's come up whit, because all of those nice things only happen to patient and good people and you are we aren't neither at the moment so don't illusion your selves, is it clear?" There was a collective "yes ma'am" accompanied by a general sense of sadness and confusion over this, were there been forbidden from joking about doing it or there was a real concern about one of them actually going ahead and doing it? (To what lows had their situation come to?)

"Whit that out of the way there is only one thing left to discuss. Since we are basically under house arrest I have decided to decorate this shoe box of ours to be a party room of sorts, but to this end I need the help from some of you. Craven and Maury I need you to come up whit a make shift cinema screen, use some covers or whatever you see necessary as long as it isn't something we use most of the time."

"Yes ma'am"

"Louisville you will clean up all the mess that is around here, but for the love of God actually do it."

Louisville was just staring at the skyline and was more busy scratching her left breast "Oh, what? Yes ma'am!" She finally spited out. "I guess." She muttered to herself.

"Jarvis I need you to install the projector and the computer we use to play movies, before you say it yes, the thing has been repaired after someone spilled water over it." The comment was aimed at Louisville that in response turned her eyes away and began whistling.

"Okay Nora if it is working then I can get it mounted." Said Jarvis a little unsure but given a determinate military salute.

"Very well Jarvis I like to hear that. Honolulu! You will make a mini bar for Lu, Portland, you and me, pay special attention to the decoration of the damn thing because last time you decorated it was the most boring thing in history, so star living up to your name and make something beautiful."

"But Nora we don't have any booze!" Protested the light cruiser cracking her voice a little, clearly displeased Northampton put her hands on her waist and making sure the mockery was evident responded.

" _But Nora we don't have any booze._ That's nonsense, if you need it you can buy it, borrow it or steal it from Bismarck or Pola, heck, in desperation you can even get sake from Junyou and Chitose, I don't care as long as it get us drunk, so go out and get it you nut!"

"Yes ma'am!" Screamed Honolulu to compensate for her protest.

"Very good, as for me I will go out and bring some movies, some coke, and whatever snacks I can get my hands on, while I am gone Warrington is in charge so pay attention to her. As for the rest just stay calm, don't kill anyone, don't disrupt the work of the others and for the love of Jesus don't do anything to any jap, we are already in a crappy spot and we don't need it to be worse, is it clear."

"Yes ma'am!"

They responded in unison but whit different levels of enthusiasm.

"Okay girl's that is the spirit. Before I go are there any questions?" Out of the group the only one that raised a hand was Louisville that did so while still scratching the same breast.

"Yes Nora I was just wondering if there is any way I could make my breast bigger, you see I want to be bigger than Iowa but just massaging them isn't doing the trick so if you could give me a hand I would welcome it." Northampton's face was as red as a tomato and she looked ready to scream at the top of her lungs, but instead she bit her lower lip and took in a big breath, it was by doing this that she calmed down enough to respond.

"No sis I can't help you in making your breast bigger but I can get them smaller by putting 10 manuals on each orb, would like that?" Louisville crossed her arms and whit a long face only said "Party-pooper"

"Okay are there more productive questions?" This time Helm and Maury raised their hands but before they could talk Northampton responded, already knowing what they were going to ask.

"No, the movies are not going not be romantic because the last time we chose that genre we ended up seen that terrible vampire movie that almost made me tear me eyes out, so to make it clear as day, no, we won't be seen love movies!" Whit that the two destroyers lowered their hands in defeat, they had actually liked that movie you know.

"Oh and one last thing, if and when Portland decides to show up I want you to ignore any crazy ideas she might have, and that is an order so follow it." Everyone looked at each other whit a little confusion on their faces but they all decided to agree without questioning to avoid a pointless confrontations whit the easy trigger they had in front.

"Okay girls you have your orders so move it!" Whit that Northampton finally turned around and began going towards the rest of the base and the rest of the squadron entered their quarters to begging the preparations for their last week on the base, no one really bothering to put to much attention between the dispute between Portland and Northampton, they just happened to time to time and none of them really reached the same apocalyptic levels the ones involving the japs or Salk Lake, the only ones that even mentioned it were Craven and Warrington and they were not concerned at all.

"What do you think it is this time Warrington?" The destroyer lieder response was simple.

"Probably nothing, Portland is the kind of girl that takes everything very seriously and Nora takes something's very seriously and some other not, so their disputes come from that most of the time, besides, when has Portland done something stupid?" That was good enough for Craven that then dedicated herself completely to coming up whit a movie screen, if only they knew what the silent one on the group had in store for them.

 **Historical references**

*Same reference as last time.

 ***** All three of them were present at the first naval battle of Guadalcanal. While generally considered the clousterfuck to end all clousterfucks I manage to recollect the following information about the interaction of this ships during the battle. During the opening phase Portland focused its fire on Kirishima that at that moment was the best target, then as the American and Japanese formations disintegrated Portland engaged the destroyers Inazuna and Ikazuchi until she was attacked by Yudashi that launched 8 torpedoes at her, of which at least one landed home, blowing off 2 of the propellers and jamming the rudder to starboard for the rest of the battle, after a few circles Portland fired another couple of rounds at Kirishima that landed on her superstructure and started fires on deck. Yudashi keep going around until one of her boiler rooms was knocked out and she was left dead in the water, until daybreak when Portland (That was still circling around) put an end to her. Kirishima, severely damage by the actions of several cruisers soldiered on until air attack finished her off the next day. So in conclusion this three have a history together and if Portland is ever implemented look forward to her not liking this two (The information about Yudashi torpedoing Portland came from the book 'Japanese Destroyer Captain')

*It's probably common knowledge to most but just as a remainder. On the 19 of June 1944 during the battle of the Philippine Sea Taiho was torpedoed by the submarine USS Albacore, while the torpedo caused no fatal damage initially, it did rupture aviation fuel tanks that leaked for hours, eventually this fuel evaporated and speeded across the ship and at 2:30 PM (6 and a haft hour after the torpedo impacted) the ship exploited and sunk.

* That battle would be the one of the Komandorski Islands. On the march 27 1943 an American task force composed by the heavy cruiser Salt Lake City, the light cruiser Richmond and the destroyers Coghlan, Bailey, Dale and Monaghan intercepted a Japanese force composed by the heavy cruisers Maya and Nashi, the light cruisers Tama and Abukama and the destroyers Wakaba, Hatsushimo, Ikazuchi and Inazuma that was trying to reinforce the Japanese positions in the islands of Attu and Kiska. In the ensuing 4 hour battle Salt Lake got heavily damage (She was actually dead in the water for a while) while booth Maya and Nashi suffered some damage, in the end the superior Japanese force had to retreat due to fuel concerns and fear of an air attack.

*Craven and Maury took part in massive PTSD generator known as the battle of Vella Gulf, during which 6 American destroyers (USS Dunlap, USS Craven, USS Maury, USS Lang, USS Sterett, and USS Stack) attacked a Japanese convoy of 4 destroyers (Hagikaze, Arashi, Kawakaze, and all lucky Shigure) In the resulting action all four destroyers were hit by torpedoes and Hagikaze, Arashi and Kawakaze were sunk almost instantly by them or the following gun bombardment, the only reason Shigure escaped was because the torpedo that hit her was a dud and didn't do any damage. (Because when they say she was lucky they are not joking)

*Jintsu and Honolulu took part in the battle of Kolombangara during which Jintsu was set on fire by American light cruisers and then was sunk by a torpedo, and Honolulu was struck by a torpedo that left her out of action for several months.

*Booth Nagato and Salt Lake City were used in operation Crossroads, the navy study designed to test the effect of nuclear bombs on a fleet, not only that but booth survived the two detonations that were made during the tests.

 **Kancolle references**

This one is kind of a mix between history and Kancolle. The Furutaka class cruisers had to keep their portholes close because water would come threw them when it raised; this is represented in the manga Fubuki Ganbarimasu by them having their room full of aquariums. (BTW I will only note the references that are super specific or about some character that isn't well known, as you can probably tell noting everything would be time consuming and pointless)

 **AN:** I went from not liking how this was looking to actually been a little proud of it, so far I am loving how this is going and I hope all of you like it =) As I told you before thank you to the ones that had already like this story, you guys rock and I hope you keep liking it. In any case take care and see ya!


	3. Setting up the plan part 2

**PORTLAND'S HEROES**

 **Chapter 3**

 **Setting up the plan part 2**

 **AN:** So after some heavy writing and a final rush to get this out before the exam week kills me I finally put this chapter together in as little time as I promised on the last one. While there were some parts that were for some reason insufferable to write overall I really enjoyed the making of this and I hope it shows in the final product. I apologize for any grammar errors and I hope you enjoy this chapter =)

After talking to Northampton Portland had wasted no time in going to the repair shop were the person she needed to put in place the final details of her little plan was, there was more people going around in the base now but that made no difference to Portland as she just ignored them and they did the same, the only time this kind of 'live and let live' mentality that the japs and Portland had going on was broken happened when Portland passed close to the tree were Hiei and Yudachi had climbed to after their encounter that morning, they were as high as they could and Kirishima and Kongou were trying to get them down by calming them down, when they saw Portland coming they wasted no time in telling the American cruiser that she should apologize to them and stop been so hostile so more trouble could be avoided, but as this was going on Hiei and Yudachi saw her standing there receiving the orders from the other two battleship they immediately panicked and tried to get to an even higher place, a mistake they paid almost immediately when one of the branches that was supposed to hold them broke and send the escapist directly to the ground whit a loud ' _CRASH_ ' that was accompanied by an even louder ' _HIEIII'_ that somehow echoed despite the lack of walls, that made Kirishima and Kongou turn their attention back to them and that gave Portland the opening to walk away like nothing had happen. The reaction of the Japs to her that was probably the thing Portland was going to miss the most from the base.

After that was over nothing else happened and in no time Portland was where she needed to be, in a small building annexed to the main machine shop were a rather shady character worked. When the American task force arrived at the base the US navy had send one of its repair ships to help Yuubari and Akashi out whit the foreign riggings, that repair ship was Vulcan and she had quickly developed a reputation for been the mafia character of the base, not only could she get anything from any part of the world to a client but she also milked set client out of anything she deemed valuable, that included more or less everything from rare jewelry to old style money, she went as far as to act like some sort of money lender that chased around her victims as if there wasn't any productive work to do, that was probably the main, but definitely not the only reason why she ranked rock bottom in popularity alongside Salt Lake and to a lesser degree Northampton.

When Portland entered into the cramped building that was full to the brim whit spare parts, broken riggings, contraband off all sorts (From fancy shirts to adulterated booze) and some other stuff that could be classified as garbage. Portland entered and saw Vulcan sitting on a desk trying to repair Northampton's radar that had suffered a direct hit the night before, whit a low key music giving the scene a strange feel of decadence. When Vulcan felt Portland enter she raised her eyes and they met the heavy cruiser head on, the latter completely immune to the fact that the bottle glasses Vulcan had on gave her the appearance of a mad scientist.

"So Portland what brings you here?" Asked Vulcan without any attempt of saluting or small talk, she just went directly to the point sounding rather bored as she did so.

"First of all hello and I do wish you a nice day" Responded Portland mocking Vulcan a little "And second I have a couple of things I need to put a project of mine into working order."

"Yeah what thing?" enquired Vulcan completely missing Portland's attempt at irony.

"295 units of fuel, 442 units of ammunition, 2 hovercrafts designed for heavy transport, 13 instant repair buckets, intelligence about the enemy activity from here to the south china sea, enough food for our task force to survive 3 days out in an expedition, and a falsified letter from the admiral at Pearl saying they need us in Jakarta earlier than expected, oh, and I need it all of this in two days before the next operation begins." There a pause for moment while Vulcan took off her glasses and then reclined on her chair while thinking about such a request, in the mid time the music keep playing on the background as if to say " _This is not the wild west only in name and look.'_

"Sure, is a bit ambitious but even in such a small frame of time it can be done. But tell me Portland what is it in for me?" Finally responded Vulcan wasting no time in showing her capitalist inclinations. Portland smiled at this and began searching for something on her coat.

"For you my dear there is an equal shear of this." Just then she pulled what she was searching for, a fat roll of money that shined under the afternoon sun, she had originally intended to leave all the money whit Iowa but after rethinking it she concluded that it was better to have something to show Vulcan so it would be easier to convince her, and that definitely was the right choice to make because now Vulcan was leaning forward from her chair staring expectantly at the money as if it was a live saving medicine.

"O my god! You son of a gun this is amazing! You not only deserve all what you want but also some liquor." Said Vulcan all cheery as she quickly turned around and graved a bottle of beer she had behind her desk in a shelf that was not hidden despite the fact that it was contraband, when Vulcan handed bottle to Portland she also grabbed the money and began examining every bill as if it was a national treasure. She also wasted little time in figuring out how many American Dollars their Bruneian counterparts were worth, she just grabbed the rotary phone and called someone at Pearl Harbor whit her left hand and keep moving the bill whit her right hand.

"Yes Jimmy is Vulcan over here I need you to tell me how much a Bruneian Dollar is worth in actual Dollars. What do you mean you don't know you are supposed to be an economist for Christ sake. Okay you have 5 minutes to call me back whit an answer or else." Whit that poor Jimmy had his task given and he had no opportunity to refuse as Vulcan hung up immediately. Whit that taken care of Vulcan again turned all her attention to the money she had at hand, counting it as she resumed talking to Portland that was drinking the beer in small sips.

"So tell me you crazy girl from where did you get this beautiful bounty?" Portland took her time to reply letting Vulcan get lost on the money again, she did this so the repair ship would be more comprehensive about the entire situation.

"It comes from a beached yacht that is behind enemy lines." As expected that gave Vulcan pause.

"A yacht? You are getting a little ambitious aren't you?" Portland took another sip of beer and nodded.

"As I told you it is behind enemy lines so no one is really looking and I have information from a good source that the owner is dead so one is interested about what happens to the ship."

"It is the perfect crime then." Stated Vulcan getting up and walking around the small space they she had, there was no denying that she was interested but the fact that so much was at risk clearly made her doubt about something that under other circumstances she would agreed almost instantly, as she keep going around the deep sound of the phone bell rang whit all its power, graving Vulcan away from her thoughts.

"Yes Jimmy? Okay how much? Yes I got the number, okay that would be it thanks you" She threw the phone away and grabbed a little notebook and a pencil she had nearby.

"Okay so Bruneian dollars is worth 0.75 US dollars and that would mean?" She stopped for a moment and then in a gruff manner asked Portland "How much money we are talking about?"

"21 million dollars from the forgotten country of Brunei." Whit that in mind Vulcan nodded and began making the math, it took her only a couple of seconds for her to have the answer, and when she did her face transformed into the incarnation of happiness.

"16 million God blessed US dollars." She said slowly whit wide eyes and whit the biggest smile she could possibly make, she turned to Portland that now also had a smile on her face, a small one but never the less she had one. They just stared at each other's happiness for a time before Vulcan made a sudden move around the desk to sit on her chair and accommodated herself in the most business-like position possible, her hands extended and pushed against each other and her legs crossed.

"So tell me Miss Portland what else you need for this operation?"

"You could use some heavy support." Commented a voice that came from the void that resounded whit a tired and sleepy tone. Portland and Vulcan turned their heads around trying to figure out from where the voice came from and them booth settle on a blanket at the far end of the machine shop covered by a whole bunch of pieces, cans and trash. There was a silence for a moment before the blanket began moving like a cocoon whit a butterfly inside and then a feminine figure began to raise from under nit it, tossing all the scrap she had over her. When the commotion was over this girl was standing there whit saggy shoulders, a green tank top covered up by a very age-worn combat vest of the same color, on her neck there were 3 medals, one service medal for the Korean war, another for Vietnam and a World War Two victory medal that while improperly wore were probably hers since the US navy had allowed ship girls that desired it to use the decorations that they had won on her previous live, a lot more weird however was the black piece of jewelry that was shaped like an iron cross that probably belonged to an Abyssal that no longer counted among the living, on her head there was a blue navy helmet whit the inscription 'LOVE BRODA' on white caps and that covered her golden short hair that barely reached her ears, finally she wore black pants and the same heavy boots most American Heavy cruisers wore but a lot more damaged by time, rather unremarkable considering all but it still helped her obtain a very detached from society look. Upon standing the girl placed her beautiful blue eyes on Portland that was unaltered by this and Vulcan that looked rather annoyed.

"Hey jackass what are you doing there?" Asked Vulcan getting up and putting her hands on her back, the cruiser just let a big yawn out and twisted her tong inside her mouth and finally talked when that demonstration of pure laziness was over.

"Hey girls just take it easy I was only taking a nap and couldn't help but hear that you two were planning to steal some money from a guy that no longer needs it." She said whit a little grin drawing itself on her lips "And me and my friends could provide some help."

"Who are you? To what units are you attach and who are your friends?" Asked Portland on a cutting way that made it clear to the other girl that she HAD to respond, her little grin dissolved but her voice retained its nonchalant tone.

"My name is St Paul CA73 I think? Yes CA73, I am a member of the Baltimore class heavy cruisers and we were designed to destroy any of the jap cruisers but by the time I arrived at the war zone most of them were already sunk, so like we had nothing to do except bombard anything that appeared to be a target, and I did that not only in the pacific war but also in the Korean one and most of all in nam, yeah I was like a monitor* from hell in nam destroying everything in range, what a pity because I like the food there." Stated St Paul cleaning her left ear whit her finger. On the other side of the room Portland was still staring at the weirdo and Vulcan was face palming as she began explaining.

"As you just heard she is a member of the Baltimore class, the sixth member in fact and she arrived at the front in 1945 when all was settle and done, and unlike the rest of her sisters she served continually from 45 to 71* and not only that but she also operated far from the states since Korea until her decommissioning*, heck she was the first ship of our navy to be permanently station in Asia after Houston and her girls were run out of Manila* so that and her intense Vietnam service* made her you know." She pointed at St Paul whit her head "A little out of whack."

"Yeah girl so to answer the rest of your question I used to be in the third fleet but now am in no particular unit, me and my friends used to be under the command of my sister Canberra, she is a nice girl but she was trying to get us kill and we were always annoying her since we began operations, you see there is this philosophical difference between me and Canberra and the rest of the fleet were everyone wants to be the best by destroying more Abyssal or by going deeper into their territory while me and my colleagues see our purpose in live as a more passive one, so we act as the reserve of the fleer in case those emo girls do a mayor offensive that puts Pearl at risk or maybe even Montana who knows?" That comment made Portland and Vulcan look at each, the former in utter terror at the display of complete not-caring she was seen (Montana didn't even have a sea line for the Abyssal to attack) "so yes, we made a deal whit Canberra were she reported us missing in action and we were free to go from base to base just living a good live and getting the supplies we need from whatever source we can find."

"And who are your friends?" Pressed Portland getting just a little impatient.

"They are another heavy cruiser and one Essex class carriers; do you want to meet them?"

"Do you mean they are inside the base?" Said Portland a little incredulous since she could not imagine three hippies running around in the same space Nagato commanded. And while not exactly a pacifist (Been the incarnation of a war machine made that a logical impossibility) was there any other term to describe St Paul? Having abandoned the world of the living almost a decade before the hippies showed up* Portland didn't consider herself an expert on determining who was and who wasn't but she would have been very surprised if St Paul was a conservative or something.

"Yes thanks to the lady you have besides you we were able to hide on a deposit no one really uses in the base, come over I will show you." Just like that she turned around and exited the room through a curtain that connected it whit the rest of the machine shop, Vulcan and Portland just shrug and began following St Paul. They exited the machine shop by a back door and then walked up a corridor made by the back side of many old depot buildings that made up that part of the base and after some time walking they arrived at the very last building that was close whit only a stick traversed across the space where a look should have been, St Paul began opening the door and already Portland could hear Asian music coming from inside accompanied by a strong smell of chicken soup combined whit other weird thing that could be described as _'meat like'_

"Here is my crew." Said St Paul as the door cracked open revealing two other ship girls and a whole bunch of other nonce. One of the girls was sitting on a vacation seat whit a little Hawaiian umbrella over her head despite the fact that the only light hitting her was the one from a barely working artificial lamp, on her lap and parallel to her head was a flight deck whit all the fancy angles the navy had come up whit in the mid fifties, revealing her as the aircraft carrier, to close to her feet to be save there was an improvised and funny looking stove that was heated by a bunch of trunks and on top had a giant pot from where the smell was coming from. To her left there was another girl that at the moment was repairing one rigging that was surrounded by tools, empty cartridges and live ammunition, to her side was another rigging of similar characteristics (3 triple turrets and a bridge structure) but whit a different lay out and a little discrepancy on size( the smaller was outsized by counterpart by a couple of inches and was arranged in the typical manner of 2 turrets forward in a smaller scale version of the bow and one single turret on the stern whit only the radar at the back and the biggest one was more like Hie's rigging whit the bridge and the funnel been at the back) and also reclining over another rigging composed only by a funnel and radar set was an BAR automatic rifle that was probably the launcher the carrier used for its airplanes.

"She is Newport News and for us she is the best mechanic in the seven seas, the only thing she can't fix is her second turret.*" Introduced her St Paul making the cruiser turn around.

"Hey sweetheart I told you don't to do tell everyone about that." Said joking around Newport News as she cleaned her greasy hands on a toweled, she then began giggling in a goofy way and in no time St Paul was also giggling, as they did so Portland studied up and down this supposed mechanic. She had a light brown cap on her head whit big pilot glasses around her, as for the rest of her vestment she had a green jacked that had a neck T-shirt of the same color, her pants were khaki and she only had sandals on, and overall every single thing she had was covered in some way whit dirt and graze and that was not even mentioning that they were so worn-out she looked permanently damaged.

"Her whole thing is that she has autoloaders on her turrets." Continued St Paul having ended the giggles and putting her hands on the bigger rigging "They are a more advance version of the same 8 inch guns the navy used in all of us but the difference is that once the shell is loaded into the machine it just handles the shell until it is fired without any help of humans except for aiming and loading the shell into the whole mechanism, and the best part is that that machine can fire 10 shots per minute"* She stopped for a moment to allow a smile to redraw on her face "It is super cool to see that amount of led hit a single target."

"And what about her?" Asked Portland pointing with her head towards the carrier that was still sleeping whit a tranquility that would give Blue some envy.

"Oh she is Oriskany the best aircraft carrier in the navy. Hey O-boat please welcome this fellow yanks we got over here." That managed to wake the sleepy carrier and what followed was an almost exactly repetition of the scene performed by St Paul a couple of minutes before, she twisted and stretched, then slowly rose up and when she was done she let out the mother of all yawns that keep on going long enough for Portland to detail her a little while. As anyone could expect she had an almost identical outfit to her sister of the same class Intrepid* but whit some important differences in color, she had a different color pattern whit jungle green, dark red and brown replacing Intrepid's somewhat opaque white, blue and black, also prominent was the fact that the shirt, tie and skirt were all wrinkled and misaligned.

"Who are you two and why you took my out of my sleep?" Asked Oriskany or ' _O-boat'_ As St Paul had called her in the same tired and slow voice that St Paul also had but that was absent from Newport News.

"She is heavy cruiser Portland lead ship of her class and for the love of god you know me I am Vulcan the reason why the japs haven't run you out of here." Replayed Vulcan annoyed and making the carrier snap a little bit.

"Oh she is one of the old girls. Yeah my name is Oriskany but they call me mighty O or O-boat, I am the last of the Essex to be commissioned and was used extensively in Vietnam were I served from beginning to end, is nice to meet you." Oriskany introduced herself extending her hand to Portland that just saw her hand and just crossed hers, there was no way she was going to shake a hand that looked like it had never been cleaned, Oriskany realized what was going on and whit a little disgusted grin cleaned her hand on her skirt.

"So what are you capable of doing O?" Asked Portland in her usual tone that seemed out of place when compared to the ones of the other girls she was whit.

"Oh!" Recoiled Oriskany "He he glad you asked because the answer is really interesting." She continued in the same way sales man would "You see I was commissioned in 1950 because of modifications made to me after the war ended*, so my base form let's called it was equivalent if no superior to my sis Kai, and my Kai modification, he he he, Is based around my nam configuration."

"Meaning?"

"Meaning I can equip F8 Crusaders, A1 Skyraiders and A4 Skyawks*. The first one is the last gun fighter and thus it is the best one of its class*, very superior to the jap jets. The second one is the absolute best torpedo bomber or regular bomber in existence, yeah no only it can load almost 4 tons of booms but it also almost indestructible*, like the bastard son of a P47 Thunderbolt and a Grumman Avenger it can erase a flotilla from existence and survive all the anti air fire they can throw at it. And finally the A4 is a subsonic bomber that while is not that impressive it still capable of delivering the same amount of ordnance a B17 Flaying fortress could*, my favorite use for them is to load them whit napalm and make some Abyssal BBQ." She concluded by laughing in the same doom way she did before and completely downplaying the fact that she was in all likelihood she was the most powerful shipgirl in existence, she wasn't the only aircraft carrier whit jets by far, but all the ME 263 variations from the Japanese or the F9F Panthers the Midway sisters had were jokes when compared to F8's Oriskany had, not to mention her bombers were first class and could level an entire city.

"That's really nice girl." Said Portland turning again towards St Paul "Is there any other thing I should know about?"

"Oh yes, there are many things in fact." Responded St Paul exited "For example my guns, since they are slower than New's ones the enemy tended to focus my, so to confuse them we glued this cans to the lower side of my guns so from afar they look like the automatic ones New's has, plus we added some smoke generators inside them so from a far is difficult to tell whatever I am firing or not. Also for O-boat since she had some modifications done to her she doesn't have the dual purpose 5 inchers the rest of her class so to dissimulate that she has this two metal boxes on her waist that look like the real thing to anyone not that experience in identifying those kinds of stuff. All of us also have some sort of lucky charm, especially Newport News and Oriskany since they have a tendency to catch fire*." The comment made Oriskany a little angry apparently since she made annoyed grin "So for example O has a cross hanging from her BAR and she also has this campaign bottom for this politician, how was his name again?"

"John McCain*" Grunted Oriskany.

"Yeah he was one of her pilots and survived 6 years in a Vietnamese prison camp despite been tortured, what a badass, when he was realize he went on to be a senator or something."

"But wasn't he shot down?" Asked Vulcan confused.

"Yes but you know, he survived her captors and went on to be someone in live so whatever" Rebutted Oriskany.

"But didn't he lose the presidential election like a decade ago?" Intervened now Portland making Oriskany recoil a little as she muttered _'she is the first one to know about that!'_

"Hey look girl she wanted that bottom as her lucky charm so let her be." Said St Paul in defense of her friend "And besides no one is perfect, after all didn't Shigure sunk?*"

Portland thought about it for a few seconds and then responded "Point given carry on."

"Right, so New's has a firefighter painted over her second turret because symbolism and she also has her Republic of Vietnam service medal on all the time." She pointed to Newport News as she drawled the medal from under her shirt to show it. "And finally I only have this cross that I took from a cruiser princes that was raiding cargo ships around New Zealand, yeah it took 5 expeditions and the live of two destroyers to get her, so I figure hey if she survived so much maybe she had some luck whit her so I took a piece of that." She pointed proudly at the black piece of material that hanged from her neck. "I don't really know if it does anything but it sure feels nice. As for munitions Newport News and I have some of those type 3 shells used by the Japos* we filled them with paint and it looks beautiful when they detonate, yeah like the four of July whit the plus of destroying airplanes. Finally we had on my third turret this loud speaker and when we go into battle we play music really loud, it kind of calms us down. "

So that was all this girls had to offer, overall not a bad package but the package itself was so weird it might as well have been made out of marihuana and whit mermaids drawn over it. Discipline was probably close to non existence and chances were that if they fought it was because they wanted to do it and not because they were ordered to, just imagining Canberra trying to get this hippies to attack almost made Portland feel sorrow, but that led to the other point. If how St Paul had showed interest before was any indication getting them to take part in the operation to get the money was going to be rather easy, considering how powerful they probably were that was something really good, however if they were willing to follow Portland's plan was more up in the air, even under all the dirt and slow talking Portland could tell they were smart enough to understand it but they were also toasted enough to oppose it because of ' _philosophical differences_ ' whit her doctrine, whatever the case there was only one way of knowing what St Paul and her gang would say.

"St Paul could you please come whit me for a minute, you to Vulcan." Told them Portland as she turned towards the exit followed by Vulcan that didn't say a thing, St Paul turned towards Newport News that just shrugged, figuring that meant at it was better to just go and see, St Paul sighted and began following the other two shipgirls outside the depot. Once outside Portland took a map from her coat and put it on the ground and then sat beside it making signals for St Paul and Vulcan to do the same whish they did, then she began explaining the plan.

"So as you two already know the yacht whit the money is on the Paracel islands that are around the coast of Vietnam around here." She pointed at the exact location in the map and then began moving her finger upwards "now in order to get there we need to pass some heavily defended enemy outposts starting whit the one we that the japs are going to assault in two days, for that one we just going to take advantage of the japs by sneaking in between their waves of attack, but for the Abyssal outpost and patrols that stand between here and the Paracel's we need some help from you and your friends. Your job if you accept is to scout the area between Haian and Luzon to see were the enemy positions are weaker, when you detect that point you turn back and randevu whit us at this islands here to the south of Hong Kong more or less two days after my task force departs and from there booth groups strike simultaneously until we get what we want, to help you whit the reconnaissance Vulcan is going to get as much intelligence as she can but your role as the on the ground is vital to guarantee success. Now my only conditions are that the amount of participants must be small, I don't want friend or friends of friend and definitely and don't want any japs coming here to demand money, aside from that any one that gets to the islands and is from the United States navy has an equal amount of money guarantied."

"Sounds… Reasonable." Said St Paul after a long pause "Any rules of engagement?"

"As long as you arrive in time you can engage all the Abyssal you want." That sent St Paul into a frenzy of smiles and chuckles.

"That's the spirit girl. You can definitely count us in; I can't wait to see the faces of New's and O-boat when I tell them about this."

"You can also count whit my but don't think I am gonna wait for all of you here, no, I am going, Nauru* is just a couple of sailing days away and don't want anyone getting lost, this is a very important investment for my after all and I don't want anyone having fun ideas whit my money." Protested Vulcan pointing her index finger at the two of them.

"Well then ladies if everything is clear I am gonna go whit my task force to tell them about this, I am sure they are gonna love it as much as you two. Hey Vulcan please give me half of the roll of money I gave you before, I need it to show it to the girls."

"Oh sure, here take it." Efficiently Vulcan took the money out and passed haft of it to Portland that afterwards stud up.

"Okay, that would be all for now, see you in 2 days."

"Oh actually my unit will depart the morning after the attack because we have something planned for that night."

"What the hell is more important than 16 million dollars?!" Screamed Vulcan in surprise, in response St Paul grinned.

"Come here that night and you will find out." Vulcan freaked out a little at this and stud up to get away from St Paul.

"Just be there if you want the money." Said coldly Portland as she picked up the map began walking away without adding anything else, leaving behind a somewhat annoyed Vulcan and St Paul that was still as weird as ever.

"Hey Vul tell my something." Asked all the sudden St Paul making Vulcan change her mood. "What can you tell about that girl?"

"Oh well, she is the leader of her class of cruisers, her only sister is Indianapolis that at the moment is one of the executive officer of the navy and the reason she is in Salt Lake's unit is because of an incident that happened to her some time ago."

"An incident? To her?! Who knew that could happen; she looks like the kind of person that takes her clock to the watchmaker daily to make sure the alarm would sound the next day."

"Sure… Actually it isn't like that, I think?" Said Vulcan unsure for a moment of how to continue "Whatever, what happened was that she was in command of a small task force that was supposed to raid Tarawa in an _'in and out'_ kind of way, but because of crappy intelligence and bad commands from the admiral the operation ended in complete failure and took the life of haft of the Farragut sisters and poor old Langley CV1. Since the high command needed an escape goat Portland got all the blame and so they reassigned her to the unit that was the joke of the navy and that eventually ended up here were no one cared about them, the situation was so bad that she even disputed whit Indianapolis because she didn't do anything to stop the admiral from punishing Portland, not because she didn't want to but because she was to afraid of the consequences and that pissed Portland off."

When Vulcan ended the tail the reaction from St Paul was unexpected, she first began jiggling and then began to just laugh somewhat hard, this confused Vulcan to no end.

"What is so funny?"

"Girl for a moment I thought she was supper correct and all 'admiral like' and it turns out she hates authority so much she even has problems whit her own sister." She laughed out loud at that point "Just like me!" At that point even Vulcan couldn't help but laugh.

"Yes I suppose you are correct about that. Now get there and tell those two about this."

"Yeah girl I will do that, I can't wait to see their faces when they hear about the money." After that she stud up whit a jump and began walking in the direction of her comrades, Vulcan was about to also go away when St Paul turned around and asked to Vulcan.

"Hey Vul could you give me the money so I can show it to the girls."

"Yes sure, but make sure to return it."

"Don't worry mate I am many things but a robber is no one of them." Vulcan reached for the money and handed it over to St Paul that took them and immediately made a weird expression that indicated something was wrong. She raised the bills to her nose and took a deep sniff that glued the colorful money to her face for a few seconds before she relented smiling a little as she did so.

"Oh girl this money smells like salt water and fish, there is no doubt this was on a ship for some time, any way see ya latter." She then pated Vulcan on her head and then went away as if she had done the most normal thing in the world.

"That girl is such an oddball." Muttered Vulcan as she turned back to go towards the repair shop, if the idea was to secure everything Portland needed for the plan in the given timeframe she needed to get moving fast whit no distractions.

 **A little after nightfall at the American dormitory**

After getting her hands on a box full of cokes Northampton's search for the goods her crew needed had gone down hell. First she discovered that the movie she was searching for (A compilation of Charles Chaplin's best movies) was for some random reason in Ise's dormitory, she went there and to her dismay there was no one in there whish left her waiting for haft an hour until her patience ran low and she forced the door open, something rather easy considering the japs used those paper doors Northampton had seen in movies. In any case it took Northampton some time but she eventually found it under a pile of clothes, feeling triumphant Northampton was about to leave whit her treasure when at the last minute she saw a rather angry Hyuga staring at her from the broken door. The ensuing arguing was as anger inducing as it was futile and at the end Hyuga just gave up and let Nora go probably because of the fact that the annoying yank was leaving in a week anyway. The next problem came in the form of Mayima telling her that she was only allowed to give the Americans a limited amount of snacks after Blue and Louisville had eaten more than haft of the base supply last month, no amount of arguing or screaming could convince the supply ship to disobey orders but she told her to ask Hosho if she could give her some comfort rations, that turned out to be a success and even if it took longer than Northampton wanted but at least she now had food to show for. Northampton was about to return to her quarters when she got called to Nagato's office for some really stressful talk about things that Northampton already knew or didn't care about, it was just the same tired speech about how crazy her task force was and how she was a threat to the base community, she stopped short of saying that she was glad Nora and her group were leaving but the American knew that was probably the sentiment, whatever the case the conversation ended at sunset whit the only significant achievement of boring Northampton instead of enraging her.

Whit all of that behind now Northampton made her way her dormitory were she was hoping the task force would finally make things easier. She was carrying the comfort rations and the CD on one bag and the box of soda in whit booth hands, they were not that heavy but because how tired she was they had some sort of drag that seemed to keep her down no matter how many times she tried to ignore it. She made her way to the dormitory as the last rays of sun were disappearing under the horizon and the second she saw the building she knew something was up, for starters all the lights were on, something that almost never happened under normal circumstances because there was always someone that wanted to sleep earlier and made sure one portion of the building was as dark as possible no matter what the rest said, then was the weird absence music, sometimes it was Jazz, sometimes it was Sinatra, sometimes it was Elvis, or when they were feeling no compassion for anyone in the base they would play good old propaganda music that would get everyone mad (apparently no one liked to hear a song about how the yanks would rope, run, bomb and gun them when they came marching in)* no matter what there was always SOMETHING playing very loudly, and finally the two big loading car full of supplies was definitely something out of the normal for sure, Northampton got closer and she saw that the car was full of fuel, food and even ammunition all cramped on them whit almost no order to speak of save something was on top of something, all of this made Northampton very suspicious but for a moment she couldn't figure out what on earth was happening, but then a really big realization hit her like a train, all the sudden she knew why all the lights were on, why no music was been play and why such a big amount of supplies were just laying there besides the accommodations of the most hated disliked squadron in the base, and all had to do whit Portland. She wasted in time in moving towards the door and whit a single powerful kick she forced the door open revealing exactly what she was specking.

The living room was crowded whit all the task force been around the main table that served as the entertainment center as it was mainly used for playing board games, Portland was standing near it what a pencil on hand indicating she was pointing at the map that was displayed over the table, to her left side and reclined against the wall were Honolulu and Craven and to her right extended across the length of the wall were Gridley, Louisville, Warrington, Maury, Bagley and Blue and farther away sitting on to of two of the triple beds were McCall, Jarvis, and Helm all of them inclined forwards to hear the ongoing presentation better, finally and at first unknown to Northampton Vulcan was standing behind whit her usual gray overall and hat on. When Northampton kicked the door open there was a sudden silent that was followed by the realization that she was probably not very happy about what Portland was planning, she had ordered to literally ignore her after all.

"Portland, I told you that if told these girls anything I would bust your ass." Portland just moved the pencil around and said.

"Nora if you transfer my then you will have to transfer every girl in this unit."

"I told you to give these girls a brake." Responded Northampton expressing how irritated she was by her tone.

"Look Nora you don't have to worry she got all figure out."

"And who called you?!" Asked a furious Northampton.

"She did." Defended herself Vulcan while pointing at Portland, the discussion could have continued but McCall interrupted it.

"Hey Northampton, is a snap." She said snapping her right fingers "16 million dollars just waiting to be picked up."

"Yeah, did she tell you that it is behind enemy lines?"

"I did."

"Oh yeah did you tell them how to pass the enemy forward outpost and their patrols farther down the China sea and how the hell are you gonna transport the money?!"

"Yes I did!" Responded Portland getting a little agitated.

"Then tell me!" Finally Screamed Northampton getting up to Portland whit the same stance a boxer would, Portland didn't do anything in response but it was clear she was staying were she was."

"Nora look Portland has all figured out, the timing, the supplies, the transport, everything." Intervened Honolulu trying to save the situation.

"Look girl this nut is gonna get us all killed."

"But we are already getting killed whit no pay." Commented Jarvis getting all of her sisters to nod in agreement and Helm out of all people responded whit a simple but effective "Damn right."

"And what help is gonna be that bonus when you are dead."

"We are taking risk is the same we had been taking since December 7* all the way back in our previous lives." Said Bagley in her usual no caring way that in a way supported her opinion that the risk was just the same.

"Yes but in that live you didn't have a choice, now you do."

"In seven days we are gonna depart to Jakarta to do the same thing we do here but at least in this one chance we are doing something for ourselves." Said this time Gridley.

"Nora Portland even got us extra fire support and air cover." Spoke again Honolulu

"Extra fire support and air cover don't be ridiculous, and who are the girls that would provide that?"

"Two post treaty heavy cruisers and one of the Essex sisters from third fleet." Spoke proudly Vulcan making Northampton turn around to respond to her "They are very effective girls that I highly recommend."

"You shut up Vulcan, you are six out of seven days of the week playing around in your little machine shop cheating any jap stupid enough to go there and you only stick your head around when you smell a profit."

"Yeah I am coming out now, because Portland got the perfect plan to get that money."

"You slimy second grade mechanic you have never been in the front lines for than five minutes and you are only a shadow of other repair ship so to make myself clear, bug out!" Vulcan remained silent and having dealt the killing blow Northampton turned to face Portland again.

"Who is in command of that little unit?" Portland actually took a moment to respond and for a second her eyes looked at the floor, a gesture she seldom made that indicated she had probably gotten the losing hand."

"A Baltimore class girl named St Paul."

"St Paul? She's a freak!"

"She, Newport News and carrier Oriskany are all ready to go."

"Ready to go? What kind of guaranty is that, they are all nuts."

"Well we are all nuts or we wouldn't be here." Spoke up Blue in what turned out to be a moment of realization for Northampton, the laziest girl in the unit that could probably make in a week ten percent of the exercise Fubuki did on a day was indicating that she at least was sympathetic to the cause or maybe even willing to participate, why else would she had spoke out? For Northampton that was a clear indication that thing had gone out of control that she needed to convince this girls that no matter how what committing what was basically suicide because of the faint hope of getting reach was not worth it.

"Look girls there are certain rules and regulations governing the fight on a war and one of them is that you don't do anything stupid unless you are one of those hero types, and have never seen one of those in this unit." Tried telling them Nora been much more diplomatic now but it still didn't seen as if any of them was changing sides.

"Taking them out of this isn't an option Nora, these girls are all in." Sentenced Portland as hitting her chin whit the pencil.

"And who is gonna lead them?" Again there was a temporary silent but this time Portland was just thinking how to convey what she had in mind, many things passed through her memory but at the end even the past couldn't stop her commitment to this operation.

"If you don't do it I will." Was all she said surprising Northampton as she did so, she hadn't been in command of anything since the raid in Tarawa and the fact that she was willing to do so let no doubt that the operation was happening one way or the other. Northampton only reaction at this was gulping but aside from that came no scream, no moment not even a change in the expression on her face, that really made the tension soar as everyone just stared at her on been only capable of waiting to see what was going to happen, the only one that had the courage to speak was Honolulu.

"Look Nora just hear Portland for a second she has everything figured out, the route, the supplies, the timing, everything; in my opinion success is guaranteed." Northampton was a little pail now, even her close confident was totally in the other side of the argument, whit that all she could say was.

"Very well." She then turned around, seen all her task force as they stared back at her whit what most have been the most anxiety any of them had felt in this live or in their first one. When she finally ended her turning she settled her gaze on Warrington that was at the far end of the wall sitting on top of a table that normally had the coffee machine on it.

"So what do you think?" Warrington's face was dead serious when she shook her head.

"There is no way around it Nora, they are all going and I prefer to make sure that they are okay on the field rather than just report them and have some meaningless penalty placed upon them." Whit her trustworthy second in command out of the picture she then turned towards the member of the task force most likely to chicken out.

"What about you Helm?" The destroyer face was facing downwards but when Northampton asked her she immediately raised it to face her superior that was her normal self, but her response wasn't.

"I am in." She just said and then twisted her neck in discomfort, she wasn't too thrilled about it but never the less she had the courage to get onboard. Out of real options Northampton's eyes felt upon the only person she could possibly count on, her sister Louisville.

"Sis, how about you?" Louisville took no time in responding and when she did it was whit a very subdues voice.

"I am sorry Nora but I am gonna have to disagree whit you on this one." And whit that Northampton confirmed that no one was whit her.

"Nora they are all for it." Spoke Portland again just stating the obvious because she could. For Northampton there were very few things she could say, but whit the situation as it was she was going to make sure she was heard.

"And what happens when Salt Lake comes back and she or someone important notices that we are missing?"

"She is gonna think we were needed earlier by the Dutch and I have already taken steps to make even the admiral at Pearl thinks that."

"Not that any of them cares anyway." Expressed her discounted Honolulu probably vocalizing the sentiment of the entire task force, Northampton only response to this was a single nod, she couldn't possibly disagree whit that the same way she couldn't possibly stop his task force from going for the money, whit that in mind she realized there was only one thing to do."

"Okay Portland, show me what you got." And whit that almost everyone in the dormitory erupted in cheers and celebration, as far as anyone of them could tell there haven't been any other moment in their history together were they had been so happy because of anything. Louisville got up and kissed Northampton in the chick making her blush instead of angry and Gridley hug her waist whit a really strong grip that almost felt unnatural on a destroyer, the rest of them whit exception of always stoic Portland and Warrington jumped out of their place and in complete bliss accommodated themselves around the table as Portland restarted her explanation whit a lot more energy now that absolutely everything was in place, all they had to do now was go out there and get that damn money.

 **Two nights later**

Dozens of warplanes filled the skies as they attacked and attacked the Abyssal that still survived. Explosions filled the air as bombs impacted, torpedoes impacted and anti aircraft guns blasted away at anything that moved. To the sides of the main chain of islands the powerful units composed by the Kongou sisters and their entourage of heavy cruisers and destroyers were slowly but surely destroying all the enemy opposition they found, the last battleships of the Abyssal were trying whit all their might to stop them and for the moment they were at least delaying them, but to their misfortune the worst was yet to come; the four most powerful battleships Japan had, accompanied by 4 heavy cruisers and almost a dozen destroyers were just waiting for the signal to strike and to finally take this outpost that had been such a headache for a long time, and as the ultimate insurance of success, the four foreign battleships were ready to provide fire support at a moment notice. Whit all of that arranged against it, it was only a matter of time before the Abyssal in that archipelago where put out of existence. In the middle of this but yet completely independent of the rest of the fleet were the girls of the American task force that until that day had been assigned to help the Japs. After Portland had explained everything to them they had wasted no time in getting everything ready. First Vulcan had obtain the falsified letters that were necessary for the Japanese to believe that they had depart earlier, for the Americans to think that the Dutch needed them whit urgency and for the Dutch to believe that they were just arriving earlier, in no time all the letters were underway to their destination and hopefully everyone that had to read them had already done it. Next all of them had gotten to work getting the remaining supplies of fuel, ammunition and food they needed for the sortie, it was difficult at first but after some trickery they had gotten all what they needed. The very last thing that were in the up in the air were the hovercraft and the repair buckets, from the get go they knew the hovercraft had to come from the outside but they actually were disappointed when it was discovered that there was no way that they were going to get the buckets from the japs, there were just to few of them that to even think for a moment that they could take 13 of them without getting detected was out of the picture, so at the last minute Vulcan had to scramble to get them. Just 12 hours before the attack was supposed to begging Vulcan confirmed that she had secured the hovercraft and the buckets from a marine base in Okinawa and whit that they had they needed to begin.

Vulcan was the first one to depart in the morning alongside Helm and Gridley, the official excuse they had included in the latter they had given the japs was that she had been called to Pearl Harbor and that the two destroyers were her escorts, in reality they were just going to meet whit contact that was supposed to give them hovercraft and the buckets. Then at 4 PM, two hours before the attack force went out the remaining members of the American task force sailed away whit the supposed destination of Jakarta, for the first 3 hours they sailed in the intended rout but at that mark they turned to the north and in about 30 minutes they had randevu whit Vulcan and the hovercrafts, after that came the arduous task of loading all the supplies into the hovercrafts because even if the destroyers could carry them (and they did for the first leg of the trip) such amount of cargo would slow them significantly; under the direction of Warrington the task was done in record time and after that Honolulu boarded the first craft and Vulcan and Portland boarded the second one, the reason was that they needed two persons to operate them correctly but that didn't stop the destroyers and Louisville from complaining for a good four minutes before Northampton put them back in order. Then they sailed at full speed for an hour before they arrived at the point indicated by Portland, about one mile in front of the main Japanese force and two miles between them and the southern force, right in the precise spot where no one should be watching and if someone was they would have been to far to see whit the eye, and if they were detected by radar no one would really have the time to check something that most likely was a reef.

As the time to press forward was approaching Portland got up to Northampton and Honolulu to discuss the final details of it all.

"Honolulu give my some light over here please." The light cruiser reached for her phone and turned its light on to illuminate the map Portland was displaying over the floater of the craft.

"Okay so when I give the signal I want you to go at full speed towards this channel over here, don't stop for anything or anyone, just go forwards until this sad excuse of a place is behind you."

"And what if they have forces blocking that channel?" Asked Northampton.

"Iowa is supposed to eradicate any Abyssal that is standing in that area in about four minutes."

"Iowa, on time and on target? That hasn't happen since she has been in command of those European bitches." Portland smirked at this.

"Well Nora there is always a first time."

"And what if this one isn't that first time?" That possibility was true enough to make Portland sight.

"That's the reason for having the destroyers and Louisville protecting us, if Iowa fails they already have my orders to blow up anything in front of them."

"Okay Portland that sounds reasonable." Sighted Northampton "We'll be there Portland."

"Okay Nora, see you then." Said Portland turning around and going back to her hovercraft.

"From all the ships in the fleets I didn't expect Portland to be one to come up whit something as crazy as this." Commented Northampton, Honolulu didn't respond, she just turned the light of her phone off and accommodated herself better, waiting for the spectacle to finally commence.

Portland got on her hovercraft and sited next to Vulcan.

"Are you sure Iowa knows the time when she has to open fire?" Asked Vulcan aggressively as Portland got on the boat.

"I told her the time." Responded Portland without doubt "As if Iowa can tell time is another question." That last part was only have joking and made Vulcan grunt. When she was finally accommodated Portland turned on the radio of her rigging and spoke to the rest.

"Okay ladies all of you confirm your radios are in ultra low frequency." That was necessary for the radios to have the least amount of range possible, that way there was less risk for anyone uninvited to hear them.

"Here Warrington, desrom 11 and 17 confirm that their radios are in ultra low frequency and all of us are ready to go."

"Here Louisville I am ready to go! Yeah!"

"Here Northampton, we are also ready and for the love of God Lu shut up!"

"Bah, you are always like that sister."

"Cut it already." Interrupted Portland "Destroyers by ready to engage anything that stand in our way, is it clear?"

"Yes ma'am!" Screamed everyone at the same time.

"Okay, all units move forward at flank speed." And all of them did just that and as the sound of the fans of the hovercraft went up in the air and the wake of the destroyers increased the operation was finally put into action, the only thing still missing was the fire support.

 **10 Miles behind the front lines**

" _O my god I can't believe I am this close to getting rich"_ Thought Iowa as she played whit the Bruneian bill that she had hidden on the glove she had on her left hand, she was supper excited about the whole thing and it was difficult to remain calm, so much in fact a cryptic smile keep appearing on her lips no matter how much she tried to disperse it.

"Hey Iowa stop playing whit your hands and pay attention, Nagato is sending a message over the radio." Screamed Bismarck over the radio snatching Iowa out of her thoughts.

"Oh right, sorry." Responded out Iowa in a blurred out way.

"Attention support group are about to advance, commence firing at the designated area." Ordered Nagato without any fanfare or extra context and that gave Iowa free reign to act just as planned. When she had spoken to Portland for a second time about two days ago the issue of when she would fire and how she would get away whit it immediately came up, the first one was rather simple to solve, they would just do it just before Nagato's group advanced as the operational plan called for a bombardment before they did, as to how to get away whit it the easy part was that the channel Portland planned to use and the axis of advance of the main group were almost the same so at least that was covered, how to convince the three perfectionist that Iowa commanded to make the mild change in target was the difficult part. Iowa suggested that she could be the only one to actually target the area Portland wanted while the rest would contribute without knowing whit their missed shots, Portland disapproved this saying that the risk of the fire not been enough was to high, so instead she suggested that Iowa would give the needed target data arguing that it was the correct one when in reality it wasn't, if they resisted (Something that was guaranteed to happen) Iowa would just shut them up by saying that her superior radar gave her the right, and if they resisted that (something that at least Roma was going to do) she would just enforce her sonority and make them fire at the coordinates she was telling them. Iowa knew there was almost no chance in hell that would work but Portland insisted and so that was the plan she was now supposed to implement.

"Okay girls these are the coordinates. The targets are mostly enemy torpedo cruisers and destroyers so fire HE." Ordered Iowa and just after that her massive turrets that housed the big sixteen inch rifles turned and elevated to their indicated position. But things couldn't go smoothly for to long and immediately the protest rolled in.

"But Iowa that isn't the target area." Protested Bismarck.

"Look Bismarck I have verified the coordinates whit my radar and I can assure you that they are correct." Responded Iowa not even turning around to see Bismarck whish made her mad.

"But I also have radar and I am telling you that your coordinates are wrong!" Protested Bismarck whit her voice raised and her fist clenched.

"Yeah, a radar so reliable it broke the first time you fired"* Came back Iowa making Bismarck raging mad.

"You little son of…" Began Bismarck but before she could curse at will Iowa interrupted her.

"Alright girl's whit nothing else in the way lets begging. All units fi…"

"Wait a minute, I also have radar and I am whit Bismarck, your coordinates are wrong." Intervened Warspite raising one eyebrow.

"No my coordinates are right, maybe your radar is badly calibrated or something." Responded Iowa just shrugging at the British woman, trying to finally get the bombardment going Iowa spoke again.

"Okay now for real, all units load HE and…"

"And what would you know about calibrating radars? You are a pumpkin, your only expertly is on how to grow corn." Ranted Warspite.

"Yes what on earth you know about radars?!" Screamed Bismarck as it became obvious that Iowa was in trouble.

"But… But…But I am in charge I am telling you to fire at my coordinates." Responded Iowa losing her composure, how did Portland imagine the situation would go?

"Oh forget it. All of you ranting about radars when you should really focus on doing gunnery on the proven way." Cut them all Roma as her guns raised and pointed at the horizon.

"Wait what are you doing?" Tried to interfere Iowa but it was too late. Roma's glasses shined under the light of the explosions as her massive fifteen inch guns exploded and threw their massive projectiles into a point in the horizon that most definitely wasn't the one Iowa had indicated.

"I am whit Roma; I will just fire at my own discretion and to bad for you if you don't like it." Said Bismarck as her guns turned around and when they were in position they also blasted away.

"No wait…" Said Iowa but it was too late to regain control of her squadron. As she was lamenting her luck Waspite sighted and more to herself than to Iowa said.

"If it has come to this the then there is nothing more to do" As if on mark her two forward pointing turrets elevated and also fired whit a big resounding 'BOOM' And whit that Iowa was left alone in her dismay.

" _Portland is gonna kill my!"_ She thought as her part of the deal just dissolved in front of her eyes, she was so stressed she missed the irony of the situation, her original suggestion of just letting the missed shots help Portland was happening.

 **Back at the hovercrafts**

The convoy was about haft way to the channel when the first salvo buzzed over and landed some distance in front of them, then came another, and another, and before they knew what was going on salvo after salvo came in whit chronic inaccuracy, the shells just landed in all directions and made a mess out of everything from the Abyssal to the task force that had to maneuver like crazy to remain in one piece.

"That crazy Iowa is dropping the barrage all over the place" Protested Vulcan as shells exploded all around them, Portland didn't say anything and just steered the boat in the best way she could. On Nora's and Honolulu's boat things were even more agitated as Northampton was the one steering the boat while Honolulu was doing her best to hide, something that her massive rigging made almost impossible.

"Stand firm you jackass there's not enough space in this boat for you to go around trying to hide." Reprehended Northampton as she pushed her friend whit one hand and changed directions whit the other, a combination of moments that almost threw Honolulu over board.

"Jesus Nora be more careful or I am gonna fall of this glorified lifebelt." Said Honolulu whit her head already over the water.

"As I said stand firm and don't fall." Grunted Northampton as she pulled another turn that threw Honolulu inside the boat again.

"Besides my dear friend you should relax and enjoy the spectacle." The spectacle she was talking about was the effect the bombardment was having on the Abyssal, even whit all its looseness it was making wonders. While relatively few Abyssal remained the ones that did were concentrated in two zones, in the advancing area of the Kongou sisters or in the general area were the shells were falling, so it was whit great delight that the American task force saw how many of them were eradicated from existence amid huge explosions that destroyed everything on their way.

"That's it! Northampton this is Warrington, almost all of the enemy forces in our path are destroyed, to take care of the rest I suggest we launch a torpedo attack to clean up whit Lu providing cover."

"Okay Warrington go ahead!" Screamed Northampton over the sound of the boat's fan and the explosions that made hearing almost impossible.

"Alright! Gridley, Craven do you hear me?"

"Strong and clear Warrington." Responded the first one strongly.

"Here Craven, I hear you Warrington." Came in moments later the other destroyer whit a voice that was much less clear.

"Okay girls we are gonna ram this ugly sons of bitches whit torpedoes, only use one mount since we need to conserve all the ammunition we can. Louisville provide fire support, is it clear?"

"Yes ma'am!" Responded the three girls she had ordered.

"Then let's go!" The three destroyers separated from the rest of the convoy and began their dash towards the enemy, Louisville moved to the front of the formation and added her guns to the bombardment, whit the important difference that she was actually accurate, and that immediately showed. In front of Warrington's attack force and Lu's guns were 4 Chi class torpedo cruisers and 6 I class destroyers that despite their best efforts were been rounded up by the battleship shells providing the perfect target for the incoming Americans. Louisville first salvo missed one of the torpedo cruisers by very little and the resulting blast send the Abyssal flaying around until she felt over a retreating destroyers, effectively stopping its advance, so when Louisville second salvo came flaying against them there was no chance of surviving, the two of them exploited and were consumed by a massive fire ball that provided the perfect illumination for the destroyers to aim their torpedoes.

"Girls chose your targets and be ready to fire." Ordered Warrington and all three of them did just that, Warrington aimed for another torpedo cruisers that was firing at her from a position near were the first one had been destroyed, Craven and Gridley aimed for the cluster of destroyers that was more occupied whit retreating across the channel than in firing at them.

"Fire!" Barked Warrington and on mark, 12 torpedoes were send their way towards the Abyssal, going at full speed and whit an enemy that was more occupied whit retreating than in evading there was almost no way the torpedoes were going to miss.

"Very well ladies get back to the formation; there is a better position to see the explosions from there." Ordered Warrington and whit a professionalism no one would give them credit for the three of them tuned back towards the hovercrafts as Louisville keep firing her guns as fast as she possibly could, torpedoes were closing the distance whit their target as fast as their engines could, the Abyssal were in complete disarray, the result of all this factors coming together coming together could only be described as beautiful.

The first torpedo impaled a I class destroyers that despite the giant explosion resulting from the impact keep moving forward for a few seconds just to be totally destroyed by a second impact, then another destroyer was blown out of the water by another torpedo, and then a cruiser suffered a similar fate, and that was repeated many times in the span of a few seconds until only a few damaged Abyssal were still standing, only few torpedoes missed their targets and the ones that did just exploded against the rocks nearby, the only exception found its way into the channel and detonated against the bow of an abandon fisher boat, the result of this was that the remaining fuel of the boat generating a dense curtain of smoke.

"Yes! Nora, Portland the attack was a complete success; let's move into the channel now."

"Very good Warrington we are moving in now." Answered Nora as the hovercraft made the necessary turns and after the last Abyssal by gunfire from the destroyers the formation entered the channel.

"I can't see a thing." Protested Jarvis as the smoke engulf them. "And the radar doesn't work well on these rocks! What if we don't see them until it is too late."

"Just keep calm and hold fire until an enemy is identified." Tried to calm her down Warrington.

"But we can't see a thing!" Keep complaining Jarvis starting to lose her cool.

"Just keep calm and move forward!" Screamed Warrington in a way that made Jarvis squall. Bagley found this comical.

"Hehe, there goes again the brave leader of Desrom 17."

"You little…" Began to respond Jarvis but she was interrupted by another scream from Warrington.

"Both of you shut up, we are nearing the end of the channel so pay attention."

Effectively the rocks in front of them began to disperse and the lagoon the channel lead to became visible through the smoke.

"Phew, at least that was… SHIT!" screamed Jarvis as she exited the channel and immediately stopped on her tracks. In front of her were more than a dozen destroyers Ro and I destroyers that as always looked angry to see her.

"FIRE!" She screamed she launched all her 16 torpedoes almost without any kind of aiming, as that was happening Warrington, Bagley and Louisville also came out of the channel and were just as surprised to see the Abyssal as Jarvis was.

"What on earth?"

"O my God, look at what my sister found."

"It's like a shooting gallery so take advantage of it." After reacting all of them began firing at point blank range at the destroyers and they also fired back at them turning the situation into a mess that forced the rest of the convoy to stop.

"What is happening over there?!" Screamed Northampton as a massive volley of projectiles passed all around her shaking the massive boat like a toy.

"So that's what's happening." In front of her the intense barrages from the Americans and Abyssal keep flaying in all directions as the massive explosions of Jarvis's torpedoes made their appearance, slamming against Abyssal, rocks and debris alike.

"Jesus Nora, turn away from this madness!" protested Honolulu in vain as the only thing she got Northampton to do was shut her up. As for the rest of the convoy they all came to a stop as the wall of fire keep increasing in size.

"No you pain in the ass we are not turning back." Began Northampton as Honolulu keep crouching as much as she could, completely ignoring her supposed role of monitoring the engines indicators. "We are gonna go forward!" She slammed the throttle fully open and in response the hovercraft jerked and then gained momentum forward in a matter of seconds. Jarvis and Warrington were dodging shells as best as they could when they heard a deep sound coming from behind them, they didn't pay attention to it until a sharp voice made itself hear over all the commotion.

"Get out of the bloody!" Jarvis was able to turn around and for the second time in about two minutes she was surprised in an ugly way.

"HOLY JESUS! Warrington get out of the way!" She warned getting herself out of the way by sprinting to the right. Warrington had almost no time to do the same but when she got a glance of the giant hovercraft coming her way she wasted no time in jumping to the left.

"WOAH!" She screamed as the boat passed by whit a margin of only a few centimeters. As for the Abyssal they had time to do nothing, the ones that were in its path were rammed and sunk immediately and the ones near were thrown away a couple feet and then were shut out of existence by the advancing destroyers of the convoy, and whit that the enemy resistance was broken definitely. Portland and Vulcan advance had no more problems and after cleaning up the rest of the Abyssal in the immediate area Louisville, Warrington, Jarvis and Bagley speeded up and rejoined whit the rest of the task force, after a few more minutes all the dying Abyssal, falling airplanes and detonating shells were left behind for the japs to deal whit, because as far as the Americans were concerned, their only objective they had in this world was to get the money.

 **Historical References**

*The monitor was a small warship that carried big guns whit the objective of using them for fire support. They were prominent from the 1860`s until the end of war world two in 1945.

* While most ships of the Baltimore class were put in reserve after WW2 and were latter reactivated during the Korean war or for the conversion into a guided missile cruisers (A few were never reactivated at all and were juts scrapped in the seventies) St Paul remained active from her commissioning on February 17 1945 until her only and last decommission on July 31 1971, making her one of the few major warships of the US of that era to do so (And the only on of her class).

*Whit the exception of the times she went into dry dock and several month were she was used for the filming of the movie _In Harm's way_ she was stationed in the Pacific almost without interuption from 1954 to 1970.

*After the destruction of the Asiatic fleet in the winter of 41-42 the US didn't have a major warship whit a permanent base in Asia until St Paul was stationed at Yukosuka, Japan in 1959 (I would die from the irony if she had been assigned to Kure).

* And finally she did five successful deployments to Vietnam from 1966 until 1970.

*On October first 1972 while providing fire support of the coast of Vietnam one projectile launched from the center gun in the number two turret exploded prematurely killing nineteen crew members, causing fires on the turret and wreaking the loading mechanism beyond repair, since replacing the entire turret was deemed to costly by the navy the ship served the remaining years of her career whit the second turret sealed and inoperable.

*You can find more information about the working of these guns by searching on YouTube the following video: The 8"/55 Rapid Fire Gun & Turret 1955 US Navy Training Film; Major Caliber Guns & Turrets.

*Construction on Oriskany was suspended on August 22 1946 when she was eighty five percent complete; the reason for this was that the navy decided to use her as the test ship for a series of modifications that collectively were called SCB 27. The modifications included the replacement or removal of all the AA guns, a reconstruction of the bridge and the reinforcement of the deck so it could handle jet aircraft. Because she was completed whit all of this already installed the only mayor modification Oriskany suffered during her career was the installation of an angle flight deck.

* Those three types of airplanes made up the air wing of the carrier when she first entered combat in Vietnam on May 10 1965.

*The F8 Crusader could be considered the culmination of the design philosophy that dominated the first haft of the Twenty century. It's was to establish air superiority by engaging enemy treats at close distance mainly using guns instead of missiles for this mission, been the last US aircraft that had guns as its main weapon (Hence its nickname _The last gun fighter)_ An for almost two decades the only one designed to fight other enemy aircrafts in a direct fight (From then until the seventies most fighter were mainly designed to intercept high altitude bombers).

*The A1 Skyraider was an attack plane designed to replace the SB2C Helldiver bomber and the TBF Avenger torpedo bomber. It was introduced after the war so its use as a torpedo bomber was very limited but it was used extensively as a ground support airplane in Korea and Vietnam. Even after the introduction of more capable bombers in the mid sixties it remained popular whit all branches of the US military because of its heavy bomb load (Again. Four tons of bombs, rockets and guns) and its durability.

*The A4 Skyhawk is a very successful attack airplane that entered service in the mid fifties whit the US navy and some units are still in service whit the Argentinean air force and the Brazilian navy! The specifications it was designed under called for a small and simple airframe that could deliver a heavy bomb load at a subsonic speed, and oh boy did the designers deliver. The resulting airplane was 40 feet (12 meters) long and a wingspan of 26 feet or 8 meters (By comparison a similar French design was 47 feet long and had a wingspan of almost 31 feet) and could carry almost ten thousand pounds of ordinance that went from anti personal bombs to nuclear weapons, all while flaying at a respectable speed of 673 miles per hour (1.083 kilometers hour) and was simple to maintain when compared to similar aircrafts. During its long live the A4 has been use by 10 air forces around the world and saw service not only in Vietnam were the US navy and the marines used it for anything that involved bombs (From ground support to guided attacks against radar installations) but also in the Middle East as Israel main bomber for almost three decades and whit the Argentineans during the Falkland war in 1982 were it bombed the British fleet.

*On October 26 1966 while operating against targets in Vietnam the ship suffered damage from a fire that started when a parachute flare ignited and was accidentally thrown at a weapons locker. The fire killed 44 crewmembers. As for Newport News I am again referencing the turrets explosion.

*John McCain is a sitting US senator from Arizona that has served as such since 1988 and has had many political achievements during his live, he also ran for president in 2000 (Losing the nomination to W. Bush) and in 2008 where he lost against Barack Obama. The reason I am referencing him here is because of his history in Vietnam. In 1967 after requesting a combat assignment he was assigned to the carrier USS Forrestal and then to the USS Oriskany when the first one suffered a fire, it was while operating from Oriskany that he was shut down over Hanoi on the 26 of October 1967. During the following six years he was tortured several times to try to make him make a anti US "Confession" for propaganda proposes, he also suffered from dysentery and was placed in solitary confinement but yet he refused to be returned to the US until all his comrades in captivity were realized from captivity.

*Lucky Shigure finally met her end on January 14 1945, while escorting a convoy from Hong Kong to Singapore she was torpedo by the submarine USS Blackfish, while she was finally sunk her luck in a way remained until the last moment because she sunk slowly allowing most of the crew to escape.

* Nauru is a small island nation in the south pacific that during the nineties became a tax heaven in an effort to improve its economic situation, while it no longer is one… for the sake of the joke and the reference to Kelly's heroes Let's I will let it pass.

* A reference to the WW2 propaganda song _'A rodeo down in Tokyo and a round-up in old Berlin'_ sang by Ozzie Waters. It is available on YouTube and I personally recommend the version by the channel Fire and Steel.

*The day the attack on Pearl Harbor happened… We all know about what happened here so I move on.

*On May 23 1941 while entering the Denmark Staid in order to break into the Atlantic, the Bismarck and the escort cruiser Prinz Eugen were shadowed by the British heavy cruisers Suffolk and Norfolk that had orders to inform about German moves. In an effort to deter the British, admiral Lutjens (The man in charge of the operation) ordered the Bismarck to fire at them; Bismarck did so and succeeded in making the cruisers turn away, but in doing so the radar onboard broke down as a result of the concussion caused by the main guns.

 **Kancolle reference**

*At the time of writing this chapter (March 2018) Intrepid has been in game for the grand total of three weeks, so to keep everyone in the same page, she is an official character and I encourage you to look her up to have an idea of how Oriskany would look.

*The type 3 shell in game (And in real live) is a special type of main battery shell that is used for anti aircraft purposes.

 **AN:** Oh boy was that hard to pull off but at least I am satisfied whit the final product. From the get go I wanted Oddball (Played in the movie by Donald Sutherland) and his crew to be those old ships that despite been twenty years old by the time Vietnam started still went there and broke their backs providing fire support, that kind of ship and character just went hand by hand in my mind and I think it shows in here. And well that should be all for me at the moment, I am taking two weeks off before I start writing the next chapter because this has taken a lot of my free time and for now I just want to sit back and watch something on Netflix, but by April I should be getting the next part under way, until then have a great time!


	4. A Lot of Noise, Enemies and Problems 1

**PORTLAND'S HEROES**

 **Chapter 4**

 **A lot of noise, and problems**

 **AN:** So here I return, you probably though that this story was dead, right? RIGHT? Well, you are wrong, because here I am to ride this story into the sun set. The reason for my lack of posting is simple, after the great reception of the second chapter I invested soul and blood (Not literally) into the third one, I was (And still am) proud of what I did on that chapter but unfortunately for me personally, the chapter received a cold reception, not a bad one, at least that would count as a reaction, but rather no one showed up to say anything about it, and also no one else faved or followed the story. That really stole the energy I needed to do another chapter for a while. But you what, I started this and I am going to end it no matter what. So I hope you like this one.

Anyhow, lest begging whit this!

Oh, but before we do that, I have to tell you something. I have been thinking in two new ideas for a fanfiction related to other 2 military thematic anime that I hope you like; I will give you more info below so stay tuned.

 **AT THE JAPANESE BASE THE MORNING AFTE THE ATTACK**

Back on the base and former home for the American squadron there was a lot of commotion going on in the war room that normally was dominated calm even in the darkest of situations, not because Nagato had lost or mind or because Kongoru was searching for the admiral or anything similar, but rather because someone else had entered the room, someone that while not hot headed, definitely didn't have the same amount of patience of the Japanese top ships, someone that incarnated a lot of what was wrong whit the Yanks and someone that got under Nagato's skin more than almost everyone. New Jersey and her band of wackos had arrived to plan the next steps of the war against the Abyssal. It had been a long time since ship girls from several nations had arrived to the base and an almost equally long time since other fronts had been opened, however, joint operations were something relatively new (girls send to join the Japs not counting) while things haven't gone wrong in an spectacular way coordination had NOT been the best between the high commands of both sides, that the American task force commanded by Salt Lake City had been a nightmare to interact whit didn't help either, so the intend of the meeting and the changing of Salt's task force whit one more "normal" was to ease up tensions, increase efficiency and plan more offensive operations between the Americans and the Japanese, whit that in mind a lot of people in booth sides were asking who had allowed New Jersey to led the talks between the two sides.

The girl second in command of the American ship girl fleet that only lagged behind in seniority to the admiral was an interesting character to put it on a simple and kind way. For starters no one knew if she was in command because of her skill or her historical connection to William F. Halsey*, the answer would change depending on who you asked and even on what time it was asked but the common perception was that she reached competent levels of command and was blessed whit some important connections do to her history in her previous live. Her personality was what you could expect from one of Iowa's sisters that had some power on her hands, she was very vociferous, confident to the point of ignoring most suggestions if she had already made up her mind about something, aggressive to no end and very centered on herself and America. She would order attack after attack whit results that were all over the map, there were overwhelming successes as frequently as there were catastrophic failures and overall she managed to put a lot of stress over the material man personnel reserves of even the United States. The attack plans themselves were simple when compared to the ones Nagato came up whit, or to any plan really, they were all variations of big A force attacking a (preferably) smaller Abyssal force whit a smaller force B providing support in the form of destroyers doing torpedo runs, submarines attacking the night before and carriers launching airs attacks that were as grand and over the top as the Japanese remembered them, unless someone pushed for it there were never any kind of ambushes, reconnaissance in force or anything of that level of complexity, there was just a report of an enemy position, then there were some attempts to get some more info, and finally whoever was available was told to grab their things and go shot them. All of these factors conspire to make her working relationship whit Nagato a rather bitter one. The calm, calculative and mature Japanese commander always found it difficult to play ball whit the American fast battleship that found her "passive aggressive" and "too nerdy" when it came to planning, if left alone the results of their interactions could be explosive to put it simple so every member of their entourage normally accompanied them into the reunions.

The American delegation had arrived at about the same the attack had gone down last night so when the task force returned they were already accommodating themselves, since neither Nagato nor Mutsu had sustained severe damage during the attack they proposed to do the meeting at mid day the next day, something that New Jersey approved enthusiastically. Now whit the sun nearing its highest point in the sky and Naka's singing providing a bad replacement for background music the reunion was under way and from the beginning it had gone south. Nagato had decided to visit some of her destroyers that were practicing that day just before the meeting and because of that New Jersey had arrived at the room before her, nothing to bad on its own, but then New Jersey had to go the extra step and taken the opportunity to sit on Nagato's desk, no reason, no logic, she just arrived and immediately went to the desk, when Nagato arrived she had been on the verge of arguing but a few words reassuring from her sister had calmed her down enough not to make a scene out of it, but never the less how things were going to happen from then on became clear.

For the japs thing could have gone better but that was just not the case, even whit such little things as accommodation, the Yankees had just accommodated themselves in such a way that Nagato was left alone in the middle of them and Mutsu had to resign herself to be behind all the lousy Americans that silenced her and sometimes even her sister under all their bustle.

As time went by it was clear not a single thing was been accomplish. Mutsu while still calm was frustrated by the entire situation and was just hoping for an opening of any kind to get productivity going, since her sister was doom to disagree whit the theatrical and exaggerated New Jersey a sane American was necessary do the trick, but a quick analysis of the others in the room revealed that sane Americans were a rare commodity at the moment. The Yankee chain of command was composed by six girls whit New Jersey on top and the rest just been a combination of yes-women or competent but disinterested girls that just sat there waiting for the meeting to be over. Mutsu all alone but determined keep trying to do something productive but it always ended going on like this.

"I think an attack on the enemy formations located on the Philippine Sea would be useful for securing our flanks."

"Don't be silly, we can perfectly bypass them without problems. Our priorities are somewhere else after all." Responded New Jersey something to that effect.

"Mutsu is right. Those Abbysal forces can be troublesome if we just ignore them." Supported Nagato who as always (At least on the job) was dead serious, the Americans on the other hand.

"Forget about the flanks! We have secondary forces that can take care of that, we need to plan our main god damn offensive to clean these animals out of the seas."

"And I am telling you, we should make our main offensive at the Philippine Sea." Insisted Nagato trying to bend the blockheaded American, but as always it came to the yes women to bug down the argument even further.

"Penssy! Can our light forces take care of the issue?"

"Yes ma'am! Our escort carriers and their destroyers can take them out no problem." 'Penssy' was in fact the old battleship Pennsylvania, chief of staff of the American navy. Good organizer as even Nagato recognized, but when it came to strategy she just limited her participation to agree whit whatever the head honchos said, it didn't help her image as that condemned her to agree whit some really stupid stuff (Like the idea that some escort carriers and a couple of destroyers could deal whit two battleship princes, four elite Wo-class carriers and their respective support ships) but since she sounded and looked professional (Her uniform was similar to Kumano's whit dark green replacing the brown and a red tie taken the place of the orange ribbon) she helped New Jersey in getting away whit a lot of goofiness.

"But our supply lines could be in danger, we need to destroy the forces the enemy has in this area." Nagato insisted and so it went on and on for minutes at a time, everyone got tire of it and eventually most of them got disconnected from it unless they were called by their respective commanders. Even Mutsu was also about to resigning herself to suffer the rest of the reunion when the American cruiser commander, a girl that looked like she wanted to die and thus had been ignored most of the time all the sudden and whit a tone that indicated she was exasperated to no end rose up from the middle of the crowd and just declared.

"I am going to get some coffee. Will' be back in a minute." Whit that she just made her way out of the crowd and to the exit whit everyone staring at her because of the novelty of something different happening, even Nagato and New Jersey stopped their back and forward to see the leaving person, Nagato didn't make any special expression about it but New Jersey did see kind of baffle, and it showed in her less than bombastic response.

"Okay sure you can go. Don't know if there is that much coffee around here but do as you please." The girl didn't respond and just reached the door. Mutsu saw this and decided there was nothing to lose whit talking to her. She was bored out of her mind and that could be because she disliked meetings and that kind of "adult stuff" or because this particular meeting was reaching exasperating levels, in any case the girl could be of some help. As everyone returned to their normal position (looking forward whit dull expressions on their faces) Mutsu decided to follow the American and see if there was a chance to save this wreck. Without announcing her exit she just stepped away and exited the room, only taking a second to see her sister before closing the door behind her.

 **A few minutes latter**

Knowing the destination of the girl it cost no effort to find her on the mess hall trying to get her coffee and already having a nicer expression on her face. Mutsu planned to introduce herself to this girl first but a little to her surprise she was beaten to it.

"So you japs do have coffee around here. The only time when I talked to my sister when she was here she said something like 'Those girls have two litter of tea for every cup of coffee so don't expect much' But never the less here it is" The American said been surprisingly friendly, it was as if she had been liberated from the meeting. Mutsu smiled back but before she responded a realization struck her.

"Sister? Was one of the cruisers of the last task force part of your class?" The girl smiled broadly and snapped her fingers as if she was playing.

"Take a guess."

Mutsu analyzed well the girl's uniform and appearance. She had a US navy uniform that was very well dressed and had two lines of bottoms that shined whit a golden glow even under the less than impressive lights of the mess hall, completing the exemplar uniform was a black and white cap that made her look even more professional than New Jersey and even Pennsylvania. With respect to her looks she had nice curly black hair that nicely slipped down her neck and a beautiful face that despite their softness had a certain similarity to a rougher and less good looking heavy cruiser.

"You are Portland's sister."

The girl nodded happily and then raised her right hand to make a salute "Heavy cruiser Indianapolis. Second ship of the Portland class of heavy cruisers. Just keep my away from submarines* and I will do all you ask of my. Nice to meet you and hope I am useful." She then lowered the salute and extended her hand towards Mutsu that extended her own hand.

"Battleship Nagato class's 2nd ship, Mutsu. Pleased to meet you. Don't play with fire too much, okay? Please..."

"If you agree to keep submarines away from me then we have a deal" that mutual exchange of fears made them chuckle for a moment and after Indianapolis had taken her coffee the two of them took sits and began conversation. Indianapolis made no indication she wanted to return to the irritating meeting, something contra productive to Mutsu but hopefully it was something that could be overcome, after all some ally was needed if the current state of affairs was to be changed.

"So Miss Mutus right? How are you doing?"

"Oh everything has been going well in general, some of the latest operations could have gone better but our success last night guarantees that for the moment we are in a strong position." Indianapolis without lowering her smile nodded in response.

" _For been Portland's sister she is rather friendly, and overall she has a totally different aura."_ Thought Mutsu as Indianapolis took the opportunity given by the silent to take a good sip out of the coffee.

"Yeah the report said as much. Most of you probably don't believe it but everyone at our part respects your efforts in this new war, don't miss understand me because bad blood still exist but at least having a new enemy that gives us trouble on equal doses has given a new perspective about you japs." She then stopped herself after realizing something was wrong whit her last sentence, then she frowned after realizing how wrong that something was "Even if we still call you names like japs… A lot of the time, yeah sorry about that".

Mutsu took the change to do one of her favorite things in the world, tease the hell out of someone; normally it was her sister that took the blows but Indianapolis looked like someone that could take a good joke.

"Oh don't worry about that BAIJO (Witches or estrangers in Japanese) I am sure it is by accident" It took one second for it to click whit the heavy cruiser but when it did she went full in on the act.

"Oh noooo! My honor has been shattered. Oh mighty samurai descendent I am really sorry for offending you on the first place." She said been as over the top whit her voice as possible and putting her body into an act where her hands went to her chest as if she had been wounded and correspondingly she pulled back as far as she could without falling from her sit. They both laughed very hard about it, Mutsu never expected this random cruiser to be so friendly, and especially after she learned it was Portland's sister, Indianapolis was a complete opposite from her. But getting outside the personal connection, Indianapolis seemed intelligent, self-aware and reasonable, qualities that everyone else apparently was lacking to some degree in the American side and that could help break the futility of the reunion, but then again all she had done since it had started was have a suffering expression on her face, noting else, Mutsu decided there was only one way of knowing if she had been lucky on her findings or not.

"So Indianapolis. What do you think about the meeting?" The cruiser that until that moment was happily still laughing froze in mid smile as if a stroke had just happen, the smile disappeared in a blink and her expression became almost angry. Mutsu also froze in the last expression she was making as a drop of sweat formed and dropped from her forehead, she didn't know what had just happen but she was sure mentioning Pearl Harbor would had gone better. An awkward silence fell among them and for a moment Mutsu saw the same expression Portland had all the time drawn in Indianapolis's face.

"Yeah, about that." She said in a stiff and quiet tone that was uncanny to hear, she really was Portland's sister.

"Is kind of dragging on and going nowhere so… It would be nice if we just ended it and you made your plans and we made our plans and that way we could, I don't known, save the time of everyone involved." She then took her cup of coffee and gave it a long sip that resounded in the space like a bad omen. When she was done she added "Please?" Mutsu was in shock, how she could respond to that dead stare? There was a reason why no one argued whit Portland after all and apparently it ran among the family. But there was still hope that she could help.

"But we can change that… If you help me" The American frowned and for a few seconds she stared at the battleship as another silence fell among them. For Mutsu all that was missing to be sure she had asked the wrong girl was for Indianapolis to get up and turn away, but instead she remained seated, staring at the former enemy whit eyes instead of daggers, signaling she at least was still more humane than Portland. Eventually after a minute that felt like an hour that humanity shined in and the steal face melted away as she sighted.

"Okay, you are nice so I should explain. You simply cannot fix New Jersey, she was literally designed to clash whit your commander as you have seen and there is nothing you and I can do to change that. And to be honest I don't care, I am an outdoors commander, I like been there on the battlefield, commanding my comrades in arms on the site and not from a desk miles away, so you have no idea how much I HATE been part of the high command. Before you ask why I am here if that is the case, it is because my predecessor was like 'forget it!' and resigned and I was the only one that they could force to take the part that could tell between port and starboard. And just because I like you."She got a little up and lowered her voice "The reason they could force me to take the command was because I kind of spent a lot time trying to help my sister and so when she went down they just took me out of combat as some sort of dummy retribution, I am keeping a lot to myself but basically I had a lot to say about some people and so they buried my under a promotion," So that was the situation, a front line commander, preset into a desk alongside people that weren't that bright. Mutsu feel compassion for the poor soul, but she still needed some help in getting things under way.

"Look Indianapolis. I know it has been difficult for you, and to be honest this particular reunion has given me a headache." Said Mutsu sighting under her bread. Indianapolis leaned over the table to accentuate her point and whit a dry and cutting tone that again resembled Portland's typical talk she said.

"You can bet on that."

"But if we want to end this war sooner and whit less casualties on your side and my side we need to make this reunion a success. So I propose the following. You make New Jersey easier to manage and I make my sister take the opportunity, what do you say?" Indianapolis was thoughtful for a moment, conflicted it seemed, it was clear what she wanted to do and that was the opposite of what Mutsu wanted, but at the opposite side of the coin Mutsu's point made to much sense to by dismissed.

"If you promise your sister wont mess up the deal is a go" She finally said, the final bits of Portland showing by the way she looked Mutsu dead in the eye. Mutsu's response was simple and effective, she extended her right hand. Returning to herself entirely Indianapolis smiled from ear to ear as she shock the opposing hand.

"Then it is a pleasure to make a deal whit you."

"Do you have a plan for dealing whit New Jersey or do I help you whit that?" Indianapolis made a smug smile and shrugged.

"The key to that kind of people is always their ego, if you reference things they like or themselves then you have them on your pocked. So you don't have to worry one bit, I will come up whit something."

Mutsu wasn't as convinced but the way Indianapolis had explain it was so confident she decided to let the American do her part as she pleased.

"I guess the silent ones always have something up their sleeve." Joked Mutsu as the two got up from the table.

"If that is me then imagine the word domination plans my sister has." That made Mutsu chuckle, she definitely found a good girl in the American side.

 **Just a few minutes later**

"Okay just remember, if your sis proposes something that takes New Jersey's out of her high castle then you owe me a penny for the effort."

Mutsu winked. Indianapolis nodded and she was about to turn the knob when Mutsu suddenly said "Wait" Indianapolis stopped her actions and turned her head towards Mutsu. "Are you sure the rest of them aren't going to sabotage our plan?" That made the cruiser chuckle "Fear not comrade, they are only 'yes woman' until things start getting weird, then they lose their minds like a bunch of chickens whit dementia" That was probably the most extravagant way of describing something Mutsu had heard on this live or her previous one but it at least provided some comfort.

"You are the one that known's them so I trust your judgment on that."

"So let's get this over whit" And whit that green light the two allies re entered the mad house. In there, New Jersey was rambling as always.

"And I am telling you we need to destroy those sons of a gun in here before we can progress. Ain't I'm right Penssy?"

"You are completely right New Jersey." Nagato looked like she was about to explode at any moment and everyone except New Jersey and Pennsylvania had taken note as most Americans had begun dragging their chairs away from the Jap commander.

"Can you get me a chair near Nagato? I think I need to calm her down." Whispered Mutsu to Indianapolis's ear just before they arrived to the main group.

"Consider it done." Said Indianapolis confidently "Just wait here a second." The heavy cruiser took the lead and whit some squeezing been done she got to the girl that was sited to the right of Nagato, a destroyer it appeared, and after some back and forward the destroyer yielded and got up. Indianapolis made a hand signal to Mutsu and the battleship was finally able to sit by her dear sister.

"Just give my one second and everything will be in place." Mutsu nodded and Indianapolis moved towards Pennsylvania.

"You took to long." Scolded Nagagto the second Mutsu had accommodated herself.

"Well, I just wanted to see how you did alone against an entire enemy fleet and as expected you did well." Nagato sighted angrily.

"Please don't do that, I am not on the mood." Mutsu's sassy smile however indicated that the teasing was the smallest thing happening at the moment.

"Are you planning something?" Asked Nagato clearly puzzled.

"Let's just say I might have solved our communication problem." Mutsu's eyes fell over the heavy cruiser that was receiving some papers from Pennsylvania, as Nagato's gaze also fell on Indianapolis the cruiser noticed the attention and to prevent any commotion she just gave a thump up.

"Can we trust her?" Asked Nagato a little concerned.

"Don't worry; she is like Portland but a lot saner."

"That sounds…" Nagato stopped dead on her track, even the Japanese commander had a hard time processing that kind of description "Like something different." Mutsu was about to say something but then New Jersey's Yankee sounding voice came crashing down. Up to that moment she had occupied her vociferous persona arguing whit the carrier commander Yorktown CV5 but now the carrier had said something that had taken New Jersey out of her comfort zone.

"No all of you don't get it. We need something bold, something that can take entire fleets out in a snap! Not some set piece battle that makes us feel intelligent while we plan it." She was rallied up, barking out her thoughts, she was almost like a military leader, but that illusion was broken almost completely by her blue dress, white pantyhose and the crossed tape saying 'MISS USA' that crossed over her chest that matched Iowa's pair on their ridiculous size*, she was almost a living joke in more senses than one, that is why it required a very special kind of people to agree whit her, special people like a member of the Portland class. The speech, designed to help the former enemies succeed in defeat this new terrible foe started whit all the crescendo and pomposity it deserved.

"I second your opinion Big J. We need something radical to win this war, something shocking and severe from which these losers can't recover. I mean just look at this loser." She pulled the paper Pennsylvania had handed her and threw it over the desk. It was a photo of an elite TA-class battleship that glowed crimson red whit all the intensity it was common for her. New Jersey took the bait in no time. She took the picture and began looking at it whit interest, the rest of the girls just stared at her whit a fair amount of confusion over the last few seconds, after all Indianapolis had talked and had agreed whit New Jersey on something, that almost deserved its own holiday. The only ones that weren't surprised were Mutsu and Indianapolis that had developed a pretty smile on their faces, Nagato should had been on the same camp whit them but skepticism prevented her from doing so. Had that really worked? The answer came in the form of a calmer, less accusative New Jersey.

"Yeah this is a picture of a loser. A born and self made loser that only lives her stupid live to torment us." She began turning the photo around so everyone could see it "And they aren't unlike all the other losers I faced previous live. Not you japs I might have something to say to your carriers but about you battleships the only bad feeling I have is that we couldn't meet off Samar in 1944.*" The clarification was made whit a very nostalgic tone that indicated some respect for Nagato, even if that respect didn't manifested itself when it came to planning the observant secretary ship took note of it."No, I am talking about the losers in Korea that killed a member of my crew while hiding in some cave,* or those reds in Vietnam that attacked a hospital full of dying marines*, or even those Syrians that bombed our embassy in Beirut and killed other members of my crew.* Yeah this Abbysal or whatever they are called are worst than all of them for a reason and one reason only, do you know it?" She stopped just long enough for it to be understood as a question but she then went on before anyone could respond " Because they lack a reason for fighting, unlike you or me or the Koreans, or the Viet Cong or the god damned Syrians they just showed up one day to cause trouble and nothing more." She paused again, raising from the chair and putting both hands on the desk in a pose similar to a raging bull. "Yet we haven't burry them yet. Can anyone of you explain that?" All Americans looked at each other uncomfortably, as if facing the questioning of their commander had changed something fundamental about the whole situation, Pennsylvania gave a confused gazed in Nagato's direction as if to say 'You are supposed to argue whit her' and the destroyer that Indianapolis had displaced took just one second to mutter an insult under her breath.

"New Jersey you see there have been several problems whit our offensive operations in the pacific as we have discussed earlier." Began the explanation the carrier commander Yorktown or CV5 as some called her to make the difference between the Midway veteran and her younger sister. She was dressed like a cowboy whit white western style clothes and red boots been her wardrobe and a white hat whit two feathers toping all of*, Nagato and Mutsu knew for a fact that she was competent but when it came to planning she just took the easy way of talking whit New Jersey after all was supposedly settled, that meant that she had more than once destroyed all the gains the Japanese had obtained in the stressful meetings, that she was talking now subjected that independently from success Indianapolis's action had altered the situation, putting everyone into overdrive.

"For one. There is heavy resistance in all sectors we have discussed so far. "

"Nothing we can't overcome whit some heavy fire power." Was what New Jersey presented as a counterargument.

"And we don't have the means to keep up whit the rate of ware mayor operations are having on our fleets."

"Means? Are you talking about logistics? Don't be ridiculous, we have the support of the United States government, we have logistics coming out of our ears! All you have to do is get the supplies up here instead of having them sitting on some storage building in San Francisco."

"But…" Yorktown stated saying something but at the end desisted, it was just an exercise in futility and she recognized this fact by sliding back into her chair. The talking part then went back to Pennsylvania.

"But ma'am as we have discussed before there are several deficiencies that make our operations difficult, lack of commanders whit experience on the ground." After that comment was made Indianapolis muttered something along the lines of 'Then why do you have me here' but she said it so low that it passed under the radar "For example last night Iowa completely failed at her task, she directed the fire of her squadron badly and command completely collapsed."

New Jersey made a discussed face at the remark and whit her right hand dismissed almost instantly.

"No excuses are needed Penssy, if there are failings in command it is your job to correct it, that's why you are my chief of staff after all." That also silenced Pennsylvania, but not because it was a hard undeniable truth but rather because that got her angry, after all it was also the commander job to discharge any incompetent girl under her command. Whit everyone else been silent after that blow against critics New Jersey's next target was Nagato who was still as stoic as always. She looked at her whit her own serious expression printed on her beauty pageant face that wasn't designed for that kind of emotion.

"So Miss Nagato I am going to ask one last time. Where do you think we should launch our next attack?" Nagato closed her eyes and was in her little thought bubble for a moment. The cruiser that Mutsu had allied whit had done her job masterfully, now it was up to her to run this thing into a happy ending. She double cheeked all the theaters of operations she had mentioned before, all of them would probably still face opposition, so she had to find something new that would rub New Jersey in the right way. A few more seconds that were remarkably silent and she was able to find something new that had managed to go unmentioned, there was a reason it had gone unmentioned but considering the new horizons there was no harm in mentioning it. She re opened her eyes and in a stiff way said.

"We can attack south, towards the Philippines and Indonesia; it is one of the most heavily defended areas still standing in the pacific. But since you are in such a great mood to start an offensive by any means necessary I don't see why we shouldn't go there." That gave New Jersey the biggest devilish smile any one had seen on her, for the American commanders it was something worth a millions cold chills on their spines. An unexpected series of events had gotten them into the most dangerous operation of the entire war. At least if they did nothing to prevent it.

"But ma'am, such a move would expose our flanks." Protested Pennsylvania raising her voice and inclining her body forwards, but New Jersey either didn't notice the posture or didn't care, no matter what she was having nothing of it

"For the love of GOD Penssy forget about your flanks! Now that we had decided were to attack all we need is a brilliant strategy that can wipe these sons of a gun out of this world."

"But ma'am there is an entire fleet of Abbysal on that area that would make live hell for an attacking force." Protested out loud the destroyer girl that had been displaced earlier.

"Without air cover ladies. Without a single airplane worth of air cover, that should make our lives a trip to the park."

"That is false ma'am; resent air reconnaissance indicates that enemy aircraft carriers are very active in the area." Indicated Yorktown.

"Impossible!" Exploded New Jersey hitting the desk whit her right hand "Every aircraft carrier under my command has orders to sink any flat top that they come across, there is no way there are any of them left on that area."

"But there are. We go and kill them on weekly bases and then they just bring up more from the Coral Sea or the Somali coast is just an exercise in…"

"Don't you dare say futility Yorktown" Cut her of New Jersey leaving the aircraft carrier to jolt on her chair from the suddenness of the action "Even if we have to kill every single ship of that fleet a thousand times we are not going to rest until we get rid of them." Not waiting for Yorktown's response she looked at Nagato to go to the next subject "So Nagato. I know we have many differences in our way and all. But this is big so I need every brain on our fleets to make it happen, so do you have any idea on how to carry this out?" For the first time in the reunion Nagato smiled, Mutsu also smiled whit her trade mark sweetness, on no time their new allied had actually changed the situation for the better.

"I need some time to talk whit my sister about some ideas I have, if you could excuse me"

"Absolutely you can take your time." Said New Jersey waving her index as if to support her claim. "In the mean time however." She prosided to point at all her subordinates on the room whit a lot of rage showing "If any of you have anything to say then tell me now, and Penssy."

"Yes ma'am?"

"Give me all the aerial photographs we have of the China Sea now, we really could use them immediately."

"Consider it done." She then begun her search for the photographs on a suitcase she had been carrying the entire time. Out of the other members of the American high command raised out of their chairs and at least 3 of them and went ahead to where New Jersey was seated and began blasting her whit all the arguments they could bring to the table. One member of them didn't do that however, instead she walked slowly to the two Japanese that remained sited for the moment. Once she was near them she began whispering, not that it was necessary for secrecy whit all the noise over the desk.

"Well, well you two, I never expected Japanese higher ups to owe me anything but I guest lives takes some unexpected turns."

"I could say something similar." Said Nagato on a more relaxed tone than her usual one.

"Thanks you for your help, I will compensate you in some way." Said Mutsu whit a very friendly demeanor.

"No need to worry. For once I am glad to participate on one of these meetings. Now is up to you to steer this ship into the sun set." The American saying went by and the three of them looked for a few seconds to the zippy discussion that was still under way on the desk. Pennsylvania was still looking for the photos whit some despair now showing on her face.

"Hey I am wondering." Indianapolis began getting the battleships out of the frantic scene in front of them. "What happened to my sis's squadron? They were supposed to report to us before departing but." She shrug "They are not here because something?"

"Oh, her taskforce?" Reacted Mutsu whit a little surprise showing "Well we received a communication from the Dutch saying they needed the help immediately so they departed in a haste, since we had spent all our time in repair or in this reunion we haven't known anything from them since." Joy disappeared from Indianapolis's expression and she became thoughtful in an instant.

"Anything wrong?" Asked Nagato noticing the change in mood.

"Yes. Even if we were on our way here when that happened Hawaii should have informed us about something like that, we are fools here in the top brass but subordinates are another story. If news had arrived to our HQ someone would had known better and would had send it to us" Now that was something to by worry about.

"We should investigate that once this is over, if something happens to those girls during their transfer that would be bad to all sides." Nagato said but instead of following her on the concern Indianapolis waved her hand dismissing her.

"That is also a possibility but to be honest whit you the security of three heavy cruisers and nine destroyers is not a concern to me. What they might be up to is what really intrigues in my opinion." Nagato's expression was solid stone and Mutsu was a lot more worry now than a few seconds ago.

"Do you think those girls have something on their hands" Indianapolis's eyes closed a little and her grimace was one of anger and confusion.

"For now is a 50/50, if the Dutch don't provide any evidence of trouble then something is rotten in here." And that was the end of it, because even if Mutsu or Nagato had something in mind they were silenced by New Jersey's loud voice crashed over all the room.

"Penssy! Were on earth are my aerial photographs?!" Penssy's eyes were wide and dishearten as she looked at her superior.

"Well sorry but… I just don't have them here. I can't locate them" New Jersey had flames coming out of her eyes as she inclined her body over the desk and said "Pennsylvania, did you miss my photographs?" The only immediate response was a solitary and large gulp. Indianapolis on the other hand did had something to say to her Japanese friends.

"Welcome to my office. Hope you get out in one piece."

 **AT AROUND THE SAME TIME**

The aerial photographs of the South China Sea slapped against a little wooden table that was surrounded by the Saint Paul's squadron. All of them had started whit a big pile of photographs that Vulcan had gotten from New Jersey's group and had gone through almost all of them to see if there was at least one place were the gothic girls had slaked on the defenses, so far however, they had done their job really well, there wasn't a single point from the coast of Hainan to the island of Luzon that was left undefended entirely, there were some points were only some destroyers were present but their weakness was remediated by the presence of some powerful task force witting helping distance of the destroyers, in short, the northern entrance of the South China Sea was almost completely sealed by the enemy. The photos were by now running low and none of them had more than a handful left to analyze. It was Saint Paul that ran out of photos first and as she slammed the last one into the table she said what was already to obvious.

"Well fellows, there seems to be no opening left in the China Sea for us to go through." But as luck would have it Oriskany had just the perfect rebuttal.

"There is an opening over here." She threw her last photo on the table and pointed at a space between two islets that were completely clean of enemy presence. Saint Paul looked and confirmed whit a nod.

"Yeah, it seems this area is open, let's see if there is something else nearby that might interfere whit the operation." Saint Paul and Oriskany began retracing the photos in search of the evidence they needed, New Port News on the other hand had just finished seen her last photo and was juts eating a large ham sandwich that she constantly showered in ketchup every now and then.

"Okay, so it appears there is nothing to dangerous near this two small islands here so I think we already know where we are going." The comment made Newport News look Saint directly in the eyes whit some annoyance. "And already know where we are going" She said mockingly and then she raised her protest.

"But tell me Saint, what if the Abbysal in the area have moved since the photographs was taken and now they are in the island." She pulled the sassiest tone someone like her could and when contrasted whit the slow drawl of her companions it really stud up like a sore thumb and Saint wasn't a fan of it. She raised slightly from her chair and whit her blond hair all over her face she talked in a more firm tone than her normal one.

"Hey News don't bring up those negative waves so earlier in the morning, can't you think of something positive for a change? Can't you appreciate for a moment the beauty of the sky and the sea? Can you please think that the Abbysal won't be there and that the opening will be there instead?" Newport News was annoyed by this but she just went whit it for her boss sake.

"Okay, okay I will think positively that the opening will be there, and before you ask me I am already thinking that Portland and her girls will be there in time just like they said." Saint Paul was a lot more happy now and the hardness on her expression was gone.

"That's more like it, now I get the supplies Vulcan left on her shop and we will be ready to get moving." She got up and moved towards the door whit no particular rush despite the apparent enthusiasms, Newport News concentrated herself on the sandwich and Oriskany, suddenly without anything better to do, reclined on her chair, and made a serious attempt at getting some more sleep before things got hectic.

 **THAT AFTERNOON MANY MILES AWAY**

They ran for more than 12 hours at almost full speed until the shipgirls damaged during the chaotic night battle begged for a respite, they found a group of rocks that provided a perfect resting place and the second everything was clear the entire task force collapsed from exhaustion wherever they could find some space to lay down, the hovercrafts were tied down on opposite sides of the rock formation and after that it was time to check on the situation. Louisville, Warrington and Jarvis had taken a beating and they were probably lucky they had gotten a relatively long end of the stick. All three were full of wounds and their riggings were in one way or another damaged whit noteworthy things including Warrington missing one torpedo tube that had just ceased to exist when a projectile had hit it dead center, Jarvis's radar suffered the same fate and Louisville was now missing a good part of the bridge structure which was also part of the list of thing that had flown away into kingdom come, for the three the good news were that all their guns remained operational and at least Warrington and Louisville still had radar to speak of. As for their bodies they all ended up needing the instant repair buckets, none really argued against it since they looked like they had been riddle rather badly by the enemy salvos and had then speeded like crazy for a prolonged period of time, speeding that had also drained most of the girls' fuel reserve so even if they wanted to, no one had the energies to protest.

Almost everyone was just resting and most had taken their riggings of whit only Portland was still on some sort of duty by guarding against possible enemy attacks. Warrington, as caring as she was and somehow still having some energy was the one handing out the fuel and munitions to everyone else by carrying the big container that held the ammunition and two jerry cans for the fuel that somehow didn't generate a burden for the destroyers despite her small size.

"Okay here you go Craven, 8 units of ammo and take a sip of oil; I think we all needed it." She said making the balancing act to hand over the munitions and one of the jerry cans so Craven could drink from it, Craven helped her by taking the jerry cans.

"Thanks miss, I was starving for oil." She took the can to her lips and took a long sip from it as Warrington left the ammunition by her side "I don't remember the last time one of us had to run for so long, maybe Northampton since she escorted Hornet senior and Enterprise when they did the Doolittle raid* but aside from her all of us just got introduced to the concept of a marathon." Warrington laughed a little at the comment as she received the jerry can back. "Yeah, I think most of us would have suffered some sort explosion in the boiler or engine room back then and as it is my feet are killing me at the moment, but at least most of us still are in one piece. Just keep doing well and this is going to be a success okay."

"Okay girl I will do just that." Craven then took advantage of the little sandbank she had found for herself and then lied down on it ready to sleep a little. Warrington keep going around the island handing over the same cargo to everyone in the task force, most just took it and only said 'thanks' but other did put on some conversation , Louisville for example was like always looking for a good time.

"Yes my dear barista, I will take the oil and about 30 units of ammunition if you don't mind"

"Jeez lady, 30 units of ammunition, you were a happy trigger last night weren't you?" Lu giggled at Warrington's face that looked at her incredulous.

"I will give you 25 of ammo because you were useful last night but try to preserve it somewhat, it doesn't grow in trees you know." The giggle evolved into a short burst of laughter as Louisville was handed over the ammunition and the jerry can, before sipping from it she had one final world.

"Thanks you little ma'am, love ya." She gave a playful kiss that made Warrington roll her eyes.

"This task force is really something" The serious girl said haft joking haft serious as the joker gulped down the fuel whit some playfulness to way she did so.

After that comedy skit was over Warrington moved to the next girls that were close by, and those were Vulcan and Gridley, the repair ship was knee deep in water and was reclined against the side of one of the hovercrafts, Gridley was inside the same hovercraft having created a something resembling a seat using some crates, she was like always looking happy whit a little smile on her cute face, at the moment she was writing something on a little notebook whit a pencil. Warrington approached the pair and extending the haft empty Jerry cans and the ammo container she offered it.

"Any one wants any supplies here?" Vulcan thought about it for a second then waved her head.

"Nah kid I am fine" She said sounding more calm than normal.

"Okay then, how about you Gridley?" The destroyer took her eyes out of the notebook and nodded happily.

"That would be much appreciated Miss Warrington." She reached for the Jerry cans and took one, but since it was almost entirely empty Warrington handed over the other one that was also bone dry by that point. "Everyone is really thirsty; guess I will go for more jerry cans."

"No need for that there are some over here." Gridley reached out of her comfort zone and reached for two full to bursting jerry cans that she handed over to Warrington.

"Thanks! You are as lovely as always Gridley. I have no idea what I will do without you" Gridley blushed and sited back on the crates , as that amount of sweetness was going on Vulcan looked at the friendly destroyer whit some confusion, for the stern veteran the destroyer looked like a typical girl, not a navy girl. Once Warrington had handed some ammunition and was gone Vulcan began eying the cute shipgirl that had returned to writing on the note book, she really looked to innocent, maybe not for a shipgirl in general since the Japs also acted like high school students, but definitely to innocent for the American Task force that was in the middle of stealing 16 million dollars from a sunken yacht. Again sounding a lot more calm than usual she began a casual conversation, or at least as casual as she could pull it.

"Hey kid how are you doing?" Gridley again detached her eyes from the notebook and placed them on Vulcan, at this point she still had a small smile drawn on her lips.

"I am doing very well these days despite everything that's been going on lately. As long as I am whit my sisters and nothing happens to them I thing nothing really is going badly."

"Not even whit the transfer to Indonesia and whit Salt as your commanding officer." Gridley made a thoughtful expression that replaced her smile but she still retained a good mood when she talked.

"Even whit that things are going well, we still alive after all, and trust me, anywhere is better than Alaska, and I mean anywhere. Back in my previous live I was deployed there in 1942* and it was unbearable because of the cold, everything would just freeze and the crew would have a difficult time operating anything. And when we resurrected in this form my sisters and I were again deployed to Alaska and yikes, it was as cold as I remembered, and this time instead of the crew having a hard time moving a torpedo mount it was me trying to do so. I was actually glad when we were transferred to this unit alongside Jarvis's squadron, and Lu, and even Northampton despite all the screaming she makes, it just feels like I am part of something and not some forgotten ship in the middle of an ice field."

"Yeah but, this is the least loved squadron in the navy, that's why you were the Japs."

"As I told you as long as my sisters are fine everything is good and we actually liked been whit the Japs, they treated us well and they are good warriors so I have almost no complains." By the time she finished that sentence Gridley sounded like she wanted the conversation to end, but still Vulcan carried on whit her little interrogatory. 

"Any idea as to why they would put you on this task force? You seem a little to good nature to be part of it you know girl." Finally got to her point Vulcan making Gridley even more uncomfortable than before, the corrupt repair ship had taken away the cool of the friendly destroyer.

"The top brass decided that the four pipers could do our job in Alaska, so we were deployed to where we would be more useful and that's it." As she responded Gridley made a mild move away from Vulcan and lowered her eyes towards the notebook and resumed writing, as the member of the squadron least likely to shut up someone that was her best effort to get out of the conversation, but that moment only succeeded in getting Vulcan interested in the notebook.

"What are you writing there little girl?" Vulcan leaned on the boat to try and see the pages of the notebook, Gridley didn't follow the normal reaction of closing the notebook and instead keep writing and without looking at Vulcan she responded.

"To Hoel, the commander of the destroyer screen of Taffy 3."

"Oh! So you are friends whit the crazy warriors of Taffy 3, yes I've hear they are good girls."

"Yes, that's why I want to know Hoel; she sounds like a great person and maybe we can be friends." Vulcan was taken aback by the part 'I want to know Hoel'

"Wait a minute. You don't know Hoel but you are wasting time on writing to her?" The only response the flabbergasted repair ship got was a plain "Yes". Why would someone do that escaped Vulcan mind, that kind of stuff was simply a waste of time and something that the naïve Japs would do, and of course something Americans wouldn't do normally (At least the ones Vulcan knew, which probably weren't the best Americans)

"Okay kid, it was nice to talk to you." Vulcan padded Gridley in the head and then turned back towards the island. Gridley, happy about the interruption finally ending, remade her smile and keep on writing.

As that was ending Warrington also arrived at the end of her tour as the water girl of the group. She reached Portland that was at the very edge of the rock formation standing at attention and looking at the horizon whit her grey eyes, however instead of been attentive of the situation she had a thoughtful expression on her face, as if something was annoying her at the moment. While Portland wasn't the kind of girl to jump or attack if she was surprised by a friendly, Warrington still made her presence known before hand as she approached her from the left side.

"Excuse me Portland." She said some distance away from the cruiser, Portland turned her head slowly and by the time she had centered her gaze upon the destroyer she was already by her side.

"Okay two things I need to tell you." Began Warrington whit her serious voice. "First, do you need anything?" She extended the Jerry cans and the munitions box

"I'll take a little sip if you don't mind." Portland took one of the Jerry cans and drank from it only taking a single gulp of the oil. Whit that taken care of Warrington then moved to the next and more important subject.

"And also Nora wants to talk to you, before you ask she isn't angry or else she would had already called for you, but you better get there now, I think she isn't happy whit the details of this plan." Warrington pointed at one of the hovercrafts where Northampton was at the moment. "And since you are the popped master behind this back heist you better present your case to her."

"Okay I get the message, mind getting the watch while I am over there?"

"Whit no guns or radar on?" Whit the hand she was holding the jerry can she made an effort to point to her body and as advertised she only had her uniform and her propellers on, the rest of her rigging was tossed somewhere in the rocks. "There aren't any surface targets in a 100 miles radius and they are not moving in this direction. In the air there is one contact that is only 5 miles away and that probably will pass over us at any moment, but don't worry, it is a Japanese airplane so we have nothing to fear" That almost made Warrington burs out in laughter.

"That is a fallacy ma'am. A deranged and offensive assertion that will make every battleship in the fleet want to punch you in the gut." And now Warrington was laughing whit no restrictions. Portland also had developed a smile on her lips and now was moving away towards were Nora was waiting and Warrington was left on guard duty while she was still laughing.

"They are Japs planes so we are fine, hehe, that is a good one." Whit zero complains she began her temporary guard duty while the actual guard had to report to the lousy boss. That boss was at the moment standing on one of the hovercrafts using a crate as a table whit a map of the South China sea extended over it. Northampton still had her uniform on but her rigging was tossed away in one of the rocks alongside Honolulu's rigging and Honolulu herself that was sleeping at the moment. When Portland arrived to the improvised HQ the first thing that received her was a harsh grunt.

"Okay Portland I since you decided to come I will ask you this." Northampton had her hands on her hips and she was standing as straight a drill sergeant.

"Yes Nora what do you want?" Said Portland whit her usual calm demeanor and trade mark drawl, showing that as almost every time she was unaffected by Northampton's rage.

"Since you are the one that came up whit this operation tell me the following. How on earth do you plan on getting us through the entry of the China Sea?" Her right index fell over the cited area that extended from the coast of China to the Philippines.

"Well the plan as I told you is to have Saint Paul and her gang search for an opening in the enemy's defenses and then they inform us about it and we rush to that opening and there you have it, we would be in."

Northampton wasn't impressed by this at all; she glared at her and then proceeded on her objection.

"Okay darling if entering is so easy for you then tell me this one. How are we going to arrive save and sound to the bloody Parcel Islands that are at the other end of the good damn sea." Portland shrugged a little and then answered still showing no intimidation.

"Well Nora you are the commander of this task force and not only as such but also as an intelligent and independent woman I expect you to solve that problem as it comes." Northampton almost facepalmed at this but her hand stopped short of that and just rubbed her forehead instead.

"For Christ sake Portland this are enemy waters, we have already expended a great part of our torpedoes, three of our girls have suffered damage including our most powerful destroyer and one of our heavy cruisers. Until we reunite whit that nut of Oriskany we have no air cover and even if we reunite whit her and the other two idiots we would still be outnumbered and outgunned by who knows how many enemy ships! You are really are pushing our luck here aren't you?" That finally broke Portland's cool; she moved her shoulders in an uncomfortable way before rebutting.

"Look Nora the idea isn't to go in fighting everything we see in this area, that's why I have Saint Paul's group searching for an entry that lacks enemy presence, that's why we are running as fast as we can thought this area, because the idea from the beginning has been to avoid combat as much as possible, so can you please calm down already."

"Okay, okay you son of a gun, since you know so much then tell me this one." Northampton was stern and overwhelming on her questioning, so much that she was able to whisper the next part without losing a bit of intimidation value.

"What is defending that god damn yacht of yours?" And finally, that made Portland silent and nervous. She took a relative eternity to respond and all the while Northampton was drilling into her soul whit her eyes.

"And well honey?" Portland sighted and then answered whit a lot less confidence showing.

"Well they probably lack air support since we have sunk many of their carriers and the ones they still have are probably at the front lines so no risk there, I think." She made a pause were she clearly tried to figure out how to continue "And as for surface forces I don't think to many are in those islands just think about it, it is an small archipelago that lacks any importance strategically speaking and that is some distance away from the front lines in Indonesia and the Philippines and… Yeah they probably aren't that defended" Her "thought as a nail" attitude allowed her to continue whit the sentence far longer than any other member of the task force, but even her wasn't far from stuttering by the time the line of reasoning had ran its course, and to make it all worse Northampton's expression made it clear she wasn't convinced at all by the speech.

"Okay nice reasoning Portland but now tell me. What emo tog boats are defending the Paracel Islands?" Portland first looked at her feet for no other reason other than her body showing her nervousness and then moved on whit her response.

"There are probably 36 destroyers of various classes on the islands." She finally said.

"Oh yeah and how do you know it? Warspite broke their radio codes and told you the information*?" Mocked Northampton, for Portland having her on that mood was better since she knew for a stone written fact, that she wasn't going to enjoy the answer.

"I know that because that would be the normal escort for one battleship princes and 2 light cruiser princess." And that was all that was needed to erase Northampton's good mood.

"Oh for the love of god Portland are you serious!" She slammed the crate whit all her force making the hovercraft shake because of it. "Do you really believe that a bunch of second grade destroyers and a couple of treaty cruisers can defeat three princes including a battleship?!"

"But Nora we have a Vietnam era carrier and 2 of the biggest heavy cruisers in the navy helping us."

"But Portland are you even listening?! We are outgunned here. And despite how crazy Saint's group is they aren't suicidal, they are not going to face of two cruiser princes and battleship princes directly, and neither do we!" Nora was on fire by that point and the vein on her forehead was an indication of how far her rage had gone. But as much as Northampton was angry Portland was still calm, at least to an extent.

"Look Nora you need to calm down and use your head for a moment here. If the princesses are outside the archipelago we can ambush them, if they are inside the archipelago we can have the cruisers distract them while the destroyers take the money, or we can have Oriskany attack the princesses while the cruisers take out the enemy destroyers while our destroyers take the money and I can go on, and on, and on for a long time. There are many ways we can skin this cat so you need to calm down and help me find the best way to do so, are we clear?" Northampton's hands rubbed all her face and then went through her hair and when the trail was over her hands joined together as if she was paying. After a moment and a sigh she spoke.

"Okay mister everything has a solution, you better have one for this mess of yours or I am gonna make sure you suffer the consequences of failing." That marked the end of the conversation, Northampton began to pick up the map and Portland was about to turn back and go to her position but a buzzing sound picked up the interest of the two of them at the same moment, Portland and Northampton remained in their place and began looking up to the sky were a somewhat dense cover of clouds hanged over the task force improvised berth.

"Hey Portland, were there any air contacts in radar?" Asked Nora on a low voice, her body making preparing to jump of the hovercraft by walking slowly away from the crate and towards the edge of the deck.

"There was one Jap airplane nearby but we are supposed to by friends now so…" Portland was also moving towards more open waters were she could maneuver better and her turrets rose up and began pointing upwards. The buzzing keep getting louder and louder until it became a universal sound that dangled over the area whit uncomfortable intensity. An increasing number of Americans looked to the air as the sound keep its presence over their heads, annoying them, keeping them out of comfort, to all it was clear what was happening, an airplane was over them, and it was a Jap plane, something that had cause them so much trouble in the pass and that still wasn't loved even after all the added context and passed time, and so, everyone was anxious and trying to see were the mosquito was. Having a privileged view of the sky because they were on top a tall rock were Jarvis and Blue, the first one had been taking the sun and the latter had been sleeping until the commotion had began, while she still doing it without much enthusiasm Blue was never the less looking up.

"Looks like the Japs are annoying us whit an airplane. Those idiots always searching for trouble whit us, but I think is only one of their flying cans so we are safe." Blue keep staring at the sky whit her sleepy eyes not really paying attention to whatever Jarvis was doing until all the sudden she felt a very shaky hand on her left shoulder.

"What?" Blue turned around to see what her sister was up to and discovered that Jarvis was a complete and utter nerve wreck that was shaking like a jelly in an earthquake.

"Jap plane… over there… And we have no cover… Like in Guadalcanal…" Jarvis babbled out almost braking in scream at the end. Blue didn't connect the dots immediately.

"Like in Guadalcanal? We had something like 3 carriers in Guadalcanal at the time you were…" She realized what was going on and even she had to admit that she was a terrible sister for taking so long to discover it.

"Right, you are didn't have air cover when you were sunk*" Between all the shaking Jarvis managed to nod.

"So let's get into cover so this one doesn't cause us any problems"

"But… But!" Jarvis again blasted out whatever worlds she was able to pronounce.

"Don't worry, just start going down and we will make it." Actually doing something for once Blue stood up and took Jarvis right hand to lead her down the rock.

"But if the airplane… While we go down…"

"Don't worry about it, not only I am here but the Jap also hasn't done anything yet…" Just as Blue reassured her sister whit a smug tone someone whit a lot more authority screamed out.

"Take cover!" Blue and Jarvis looked up and so they saw a dot the size of bug bearing down on them and as it did so the bug became a dove, then an eagle and by the time it was the size of a seagull all the details of a Val dive bomber became visible, the fixed landing the gear, the elongated cabin, the white paint of the fuselage and the red dots in the wings and sides. By that point also, the accompanying sound had grown from a constant buzzing to a hellish ringing that keep growing by the second, that was to much for Jarvis to take, she made a squeak sound, then liberated its hand from Blue's grip and jumped from the top of the rock into the sea whit a loud "splash" accompanying her impact.

"That's what I get for helping someone." Blue complained to herself as she saw her sister flapping around in the water, she then overheard a hissing coming from the direction of the airplane, she turned around in time to see the deadly metal object making its way towards the water.

"And that's what I get for wanting to buy a double bed just for me." Not wanting to jump and whit no time to do anything else Blue rolled into a fetal position and prepared for the worst. Down in the water it became clear the target of the attack was the hovercraft were Gridley had been lying down, she had jumped overboard the second Warrington had given the alarm but the big hovercraft itself was there for the dive bomber to destroy. The bomb ended her trajectory the moment it impacted squarely on a group of ammunition boxes that immediately went up in flames in a cataclysmic explosion. The hovercraft vended under the force of the initial deflagration and after it had expended itself the broken hovercraft began to sink quickly were it was her decks awash in fire as a consequence of the impact. After dropping her bomb the airplane had pulled away from the water in search of some altitude and as it did so it began moving away from the stricken vessel, however as it did so the tail gunner fired at the stricken boat, either this or the fires already raging caused a second explosion that engulfed the craft from bow to stern. Leaving this destruction behind the Jap bomber gained altitude and as fast as it had entered the scene it had pulled away, but before anyone could regained calmness the airplane began to make a wide turn to the right, clearly indicating its intentions, Northampton, that had hit the ground alongside Honolulu and Maury that were close to where she had been was the first one to see what was happening and reacted quickly.

"Get what you can of that out of that boat!" She rose up and rushed towards the boat, when she arrived she grabbed a crate and threw it to the water, Honolulu and Maury saw this and got the message right away. Maury began grabbing jerry cans and threw them to the island were they would be more or less save, since there was no delicacy to the operation the cans landed in the worst ways possible and many opened up and spilled their contents all over the place, but at least they were not going to burn. Honolulu also grabbed a crate and manhandled into the water but by the time she was ready to do something else the sound of the foreign piston engine grew louder again, Warrington, which had been rushing towards the hovercraft to help, again gave the alarm.

"Incoming!" The three girls saving the provisions again jumped to the water as the Val opened up whit the weapons it still had, its machineguns. The bullets deflated the floater of the boat, then pierced many jerry cans that spilled fuel all over the place and finally ignited the fireworks when the bullets ricocheted of the ventilator that propelled the thing, the fire was less intense than in the other hovercraft but the damage to the floater meant the machine was a total loss. Whit all this damage done, the sole attacker again gained altitude, and without changing course or even speed, it climbed into the clouds and then disappeared. It took until the engine sound disappeared almost completely for someone to actually raise its head and see the results of the newest Jap screw up.

"So much for enemies of yesterday been today's friend." Said Northampton pulling her best sarcasm as she got the last glimpses of the attacker.

"Weren't the Japs short on personal do to the attacks against that enemy bastion we went through?" Asked Maury while cleaning the wet sand of her uniform, something that she was not succeeding on doing.

"The carrier whit the poker visor* was dispatched to a patrol before the attack began." Answered Honolulu while pulling her pockets out in order to get the water out.

The three stared at the ruined hovercraft as it slowly made its way to the bottom of the sea, the flames of the fuel starting to float in the water despite the deck been awash.

"Okay ladies, listen up." Began bossing Northampton making sure everyone could hear her over the burning wreckage.

"We need to collect what can be salvage and then bail out of here before those bloody idiots decide we need an extra dose of explosives so on the double!" She made a loud clap and as ordered, everyone began going to search for anything that had survived the ordeal. Northampton helped out in the recovery of the boat that was near her, most of the ammunition was intact since the water had cut short the time they needed to cock up and explode, but no jerry cans that were still onboard were salvageable, and judging based on the position many of the cans that Maury had thrown overboard those weren't exactly survivors. On the other hovercraft not that much had escaped in one piece, but at least some boxes had gone under water before they could explode.

"A very sound and save operation isn't it Portland?" Northampton asked to her partner that gone to the island to pick up the jerry cans that were tossed there, she didn't say a thing and just began picking up the cans. Northampton was not interested in arguing at the moment and just ignored her to do something else, at that moment Warrington finally arrived.

"Looks like the pixy confused the hovercrafts whit Abyssal, that's sad but I will take it." She lamented as she closed the final gap towards the boat.

"If that is the case then they are blind but that no longer is our problem."

"Any other orders ma'am'" Asked Warrington standing in attention.

"Check on all the others to see if they broke something and make sure that they put their riggings on after they are done picking up stuff. Tell everyone that destroyers will carry most of the jerry can and other small stuff and the cruisers will carry the crates, is it clear." She almost sighted at the end from the fatigue but she still retained her composure. Warrington made the military salute and said the "Yes ma'am" that accompanied it and went to do her duty.

"Hey Portland how are the jerry cans?" This time she actually responded.

"Almost all have spilled up some of the fuel and some are empty, but we have like 9 of them that are worth carrying." Those mix news did made Northampton sigh.

"And how about the ammunitions crates?" She asked Maury that was standing near her while Honolulu was submerged trying to get something out of the water.

"At least 5 are wet but save, Honolulu is getting other one from down there but unless we put the fire away that's all we will get." Northampton nodded and then shifted her attention to the other hovercraft.

"Anything over there." The one to answer was Helm.

"Like 10 jerry cans and one, no two…" Confusion was on her voice and she sounded haft choked when she resumed answering "We have 3 crates here and Gridley has found another jerry can." Neither bad nor good, they really had taken a punch.

"Okay get ready to carry it and put your rigging on, we are moving out now!"

All of them worked fast to get everything in order. Salvage was done in record time and considering that they lacked any assistance from the mechanisms they had in the base riggings were put on in a rather short time, overall, they were ready to depart in haft an hour, a record time for them. Once they were ready they all formed up in the edge of the rocks as Northampton received one last report from Warrington.

"Everyone is on attention and ready to depart ma'am."

"Very good Warrington." Her eyes swept across the formation of girls that now were doing its best to don't let anything fall to the water. Portland, Honolulu, and Louisville and her were carrying the crates, and the destroyers were all carrying the jerry cans, since they lacked any box to put them in they had to sustain them as best as they could, whit some hanging from antennas and guns from where they would probably fall in battle.

"Girls listen up, we are going to continue on the course we were going before, since Vulcan here now has to sail whit us we are going to go at 19 knots, to make up for the lost of speed we are going to sail on during night, were are not going to engage anything unless it is necessary and for the love of God we are going to sail in anti aircraft formation so keep it if you don't mind, is it clear?" Everyone minus Portland and Vulcan screamed the corresponding "yes ma'am"

"Then let's go!" Northampton got around and began making head way and soon everyone began doing the same, the anti-aircraft formation been created easily whit only one problem, Louisville was having problems seen were she was going, to such an extent that she almost collided whit some of the destroyers as she advanced. All the screaming and complains getting Northampton's attention.

"Okay what is happening?" She stopped and the formation did the same.

"Sorry sis, but whit all this crates I can't see a thing!" That was completely true, Louisville was holding whit booth her hands three of the munitions boxes that staked so high it blocked her view. Fortunately for her, sis had a simple solution.

"Give one of the crates to Vulcan; after all she isn't carrying anything." As advertised, Vulcan was the only member of the formation that wasn't holding a single thing, not even a jerry can, that didn't prevent her from protesting however.

"Hey wait a second! Do you want me to slow down the formation further by going around whit some cargo?"

"Oh shut you smartass and just help my sister out." Slammed her down Northampton and that was the end of it, Louisville got up to Vulcan and almost dropped the top crate over Vulcan and she almost fell over from sudden increase of weigh, she struggled whit it a lot more than her peers and was still doing so when Northampton gave the order the resume advancing.

"Damn this is heavy." The repair ship complained out loud.

"Welcome to the navy pal, hehe" Mocked Louisville as she took her place in the front of the formation. Vulcan muttered an insult under her breath but she stopped her attack once she saw a possible solution to her problem. Close to her was Bagley, only carrying two jerry cans that hanged from her torpedo mount.

"Hey kid." She whispered to her and she turned to see Vulcan.

"I will give you 100 dollars if you carry this crate for me." Bagley didn't know how to react to that.

"Come on kid" Pressed Vulcan and that made Bagley snap out of it.

"No, they gave it to you so you have to carry it." She almost turned around but Vulcan pressed on.

"Oh please kid I will even pay you." Bagley gave an incredulous look.

"Do you even have them on you?"

"What no. Why would I…"

"Then forget it" Bagley crossed her eyes and ignored the pleading repair ship that increased her begging exponentially until the entire squadron shut her up whit a simultaneous barking. Despite this and everything else that had happen up to that point, the mission was still going strong.

 **HISTORICAL REFERENCES**

*After joining 3th fleet in August 1944, the USS New Jersey was selected by Admiral William F. Halsey to be his flagship. As such it was from her that Halsey commanded the US fleet during the massive battle of Leyte Gulf in October 1944. The tenure of New Jersey as flag ship ended in January 1945. She protected the carrier formations that were attacking many Japanese positions for the rest of the war.

*On July 30 1945 after carrying parts and uranium that were use for the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, the USS Indianapolis was torpedoed by the submarine I58 while it was on her way to the front line. The ship suffered massive damage from the torpedoes that impacted on her bow and center, it only took twelve minutes for her to roll over and sink. Since the sinking was so fast there were problems in sending the S.O.S messages, that, combined whit a failure of the high command to discover that she was late to her destination resulted in a three day delay in the dispatch of rescue forces. Because of this, out of the original 900 men that abandoned the ship, only 316 survived.

*During the Battle of Leyte Gulf (October 23-october 26 1944) Admiral William F. Halsey developed a plan to deal whit Admiral Takeo Kurita's center force that at that moment was advancing towards the San Bernardino Staid (That lead to the disembarking zone on the island of Samar). The idea was to deploy 4 fast battleships (New Jersey, Washington, Alabama and Iowa) alongside 3 light cruisers (Miami, Vincennes and Biloxi) 2 heavy cruisers (New Orleans and Wichita) and 14 to 18 destroyers (Sources vary and as a side note all 8 destroyers of this task force of my mine could have been part of this real live force) to block the advancing Japanese force, under the name of task force 34 it was supposed to be under command of Rear Admiral Willis A. Lee (The guy that sunk Kirishima) and its possible formation was learned by American forces in the area that assumed that had been already formed and went down south to hunt northern force (The group that had the Fusou sisters in it) At the end center force turned back under heavy air attack and another Japanese force was spotted to the north, so Halsey took all his ships without separating TF34 to the north and left the San Bernardino Staid only defended by light forces. When center force turned back and re started its advance towards Samar they were only opposed by a little force known as Taffy 3. The rest is history.

*On May 21 1951 the New Jersey came under fire from a North Korean artillery position that was located in the mouth of a cave. While most projectiles bounced of the main armor belt or the turret plating some did cause havoc on deck, killing Bob Osterwind, the first casualty the New Jersey suffered during her career. The response from the ship's artillery completely destroyed the artillery position.

*During her deployment in Vietnam on February 1969 the Viet Cong had surrounded an American camp near the DMZ whit 500 troops, the New Jersey provided fire support for 6 hours ultimately repelling the attack.

*On October 23 1983 a suicide bomber detonated an explosive device in a marines barracks in Lebanon, killing 241 people including Michael Gorchinsky (Sorry if I am writing this wrong) a technician that had disembarked to help the ground troops whit their radars.

*After launching the 16 bombers that took part in the Doolittle raid the task force (That included Northampton and Salt Lake City) had to immediately depart the area before any Japanese forces could catch them. They managed to arrive on Pearl Harbor on April 30 1942, one week after the attack without damage.

*Between June 5 and September 25 1942 Gridley was stationed in the area of Alaska, her main jobs during this deployment was to escort convoys and to patrol the Japanese occupied islands of Attu and Kiska, the latter of which she bombarded on august 7. After this deployment was over she was assigned as part of the escort for the carrier USS Saratoga and moved to the areas of the Solomon Island, were she would remain for almost a year.

*During WW2 the British intelligence invested a great deal of time and resources into decoding the German military communications that were encrypted whit the infamous enigma machine. After a long period if trial and error the allies began to reliably deciphering German messages, shortening the war significantly by doing this. The entire history is way more complex and I recommend you read about it.

*During the initial landings on Guadalcanal on August 8 1942 Jarvis was protecting the transport ships from air attacks when the torpedo from a shot down airplane exploded in the forward fireroom, killing 14 men in the act and stopping the destroyer dead in the water. After been towed to a save place, doing emergency repairs and transferring 7 wounded to other ships Jarvis attempted to retreat to Sidney, Australia during the night of the 8 of August for more permanent repairs. On her way she had the misfortune to encounter the Japanese cruiser force that was on her way to attack the Americans in what became known as the battle of Savo Island, the destroyers took fire from the line of cruisers and the destroyer Yunagi engaged her without much success. When the sun was up on the 9th the destroyers was still making head way towards Sidney whit a trail of fuel behind her and whit the bow down in the water. The Japanese, that for all that time had confused her whit the light cruiser HMNZS Aquilles dispatched 31 planes to finish her off. The heavily damaged destroyer was sunk by that air attack were according to Japanese sources it split and sank, losing all of her 233 crewmembers.

 **KANCOLLE REFERENCE**

*I based her design on the one present on the fan art book 'PACIFIC' While most of their designs don't match whit the personalities I gave to my girls (Just see their version of Maury and try seen her acting like my version of the same ship) But since I liked their representation of New Jersey and it did match the personality I gave her I decided to use it.

*The same whit Yorktown's design, taken from the fan art book 'PACIFIC'

*If there is a god he knows that is the worst joke you can do about Ryujo, but he also knows that I wouldn't be able to live whit myself if I didn't make it =)

 **AN:** It was great to be back in action! Hope you liked it. In regards to the ideas I had to another fanfictions I am planning, one is for Hai-Furi and the other one if for Girls Und Panzer. Here are the basic plot details.

Hai-Furi: Akeno and her crew are joined in their fleet maneuvers by an American destroyer that is commanded by the descendant of a famous captain that participated in the Battle of Samar (Either descendant of Robert W. Copeland that commanded the USS Samuel B Roberts or Ernest E. Evans, commander of the USS Johnston. And they would be commanding the Gearing class destroyer that received the name of the ships their ancestors commanded. You can tell me which one you would like more) the captain of this destroyers is talented but prone to stress and been overrun by anxiety if things get to out of hand. One night while the two destroyers are out in maneuvers the main force of the Japanese Blue Mermaids is attacked while on anchor by a force made up of South American rebels that are commanded by an Argentinean Captain that is fully committed to generate havoc in the open seas for apparently political reasons. While the force that attacked the Blue Mermaids retreats they come across the American destroyers and the Harekaze that at the moment are repairing and refueling. In the following engagement Akeno is captured by the rebels and so it is up to the rest of the crew and the Americans to rescue her, whit the American commander having to learn how to overcome his short comings. In the mid time Akeno gets to know these rebels in a personal level including their commander, and in the way, she also finds the real reason why the Argentinean commander has embarked in such an enterprise.

GUP: A German history buff named like the WW2 general Walther Wenck moves to Japan and is put in a German school were everything goes by the norm and nothing is to strange, except another German kid that is as extravagant as they come, since they share interest they become friends and as such the extrovert comrade tells his more calm partner that he is working whit other enthusiast in an underground male Shen-shado league, been enthusiasm himself Wenck agrees to help out and to lead a German Team that will take part in this league. Along the way he meets friends, some rivals and maybe his future girlfriend, that is if he can take all the challenges that come his way.

So that is that. Please tell if my which one you like more and I will begging writing the story and that would be the next thing I post (In less time I hope) Any way that would be all for now, take care, and have a great time.


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